English Classics, Etc., 

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Classes in English Literature, Reading, Grammar, etc. 



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antol.) 



Acts I., III. 



Scott's Lacly of the Lake. (Canto I.) 
Shakespeare's As You Like It, etc. (Selections.) 
Shakespeare's King John and King Richard II. (Selections.) 
Shakespeare's King Henry IV., King Henry V., King Henry 

VI. (Selections.) 
Shakespeare's Henry VIII., and Julius Csesar. (Selections.) 
(CONTINUED.) 



ENGLISH classics-Continued. 

Wordsworth's Excursion. (Book I.) 
Pope's Essay on Critlcisnu 
Spenser's Faerie Queenc. (Cantos I. and IL) 
Cowper's Task. (Book I. ) 
Milton's Comus. 
Tennyson's Enoch Arden. 
Irvine's Sketch Book. (Selections ) 
Dickens' Christmas CaroL (Condensed.) 
Carlyle's Hero as a Prophet. 

Maeaulay's Warren Ilastings, (Condensed.) * 

Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. (Condensed.) 
Tennyson's The Two Voices and A Dream of Fair Womexio 
Memory Quotations. 
Cavalier Poets. 

Dryden's Alexander's Feast and MeFleeknoe. 
Keats' The Eve of St. Aenes. 
Irvlng's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 
Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. 
Spencer's Philosophy of Style. 
De Quineey's Joan of Arc 
The Academic Orthoepist. 
Douglas' Rhetorical Traininsr. 
Bryant's Thanatopsis, and Other Poems. 
Ruskln's The Beautiful in Nature* (Selections.) 
Shakespearean Speaker, 

Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes, and London. 
Others in Preparation. From 83 to 64 Pages each^ 16mo. 



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In the growing study of English literature we see about the only 
solution of the question : How shall our boys and girls be trained to 
find delight in a higher range of reading ? And w^e insist that for 
classes in our public high schools this should be the prime motive of 
the teacher, and that all questions of literary and scholastic accom- 
plishment should be made subservient to it. 

And the first step towards really engaging our pupils in a study of 
English Classics that shall endure after school days are over is to put 
into their hands the actual text of some of the masterpieces, while the 
teacher is by to illuminate and heighten the relish. 

For this purpose these are just the books. The notes are ample 
and scholarly, and bear throughout a remarkable uniformity in 
character and style. — Tlie Sclioolinastei% 

Published by Clark & Maynard, New York. 



SHAKESPEARE'S 



King Henry IV 

(PART I.) 

WITH 

INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND PLAN OF 
PREPARATION. 





(selected.) 



;t^'iir^ 



By BRAINERD KELLOGG, A.M., 

Professor of the English Lajiguage and Literature in the Brooklyn 
Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, and author of a " Text- 
Book on Rhetoric," a " Text- Book on English Litera- 
ture*' and one of the authors of Reed and Kellogg* s 
^'Graded Lessons in English," and ^^ Higher 
Lessons in English." 

New York: 

CLARK & MAYNARD, Publishers, 

771 Broadway. 

1885. 






Shakespeare's Plays, 

WITH NOTES. 

Uni/ortn in style andj>rice with this volume. 

MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

KING HENRY V. 

AS YOU LIKE IT. 

JULIUS CAESAR. 

KING LEAR. 

MACBETH. 

TEMPEST. 

HAMLET. 

KING HENRY VIII. 

KING HENRY IV. (Part I.) 



Copyright, 1885, 
BY CLARK & MAYNARD. 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 



The text here presented, adapted for use in mixed 
classes, has been carefully collated with that of six or seven 
of the latest and best editions. Where there was any dis- 
ag^reement, those readings have been adopted which 
seemed most reasonable and were supported by the best 
authority. 

Professor Meiklejohn's exhaustive notes form the sub- 
stance of those here used ; and his plan, as set forth in 
the " General Notice " annexed, has been carried out in 
these volumes. But as these plays are intended rather for 
pupils in school and college than for ripe Shakespearian 
scholars, we have not hesitated to prune his notes of what 
ever was thought to be too learned for our purpose, or 
on other grounds was deemed irrelevant to it. The notes 
of other English editors have been freely incorporated. 

B. K. 



GENERAL NOTICE. 



*' An attempt has been made in these new editions to 
interpret Shakespeare by the aid of Shakespeare himself. 
The Method of Comparison has been constantly employ- 
ed ; and the language used by him in one place has been 
compared with the language used in other places in simi- 
lar circumstances, as well as with older English and with 
newer English. The text has been as carefully and as 
thoroughly annotated as the text of any Greek or Latin 
classic. 

*'The first purpose in this elaborate annotation is, of 
course the full working out of Shakespeare's meaning. 
The Editor has in all circumstances taken as much pains 
with this as if he had been making out the difficult and 
obscure terms of a will in which he himself was personally 
interested ; and he submits that this thorough excavation 
of the meaning of a really profound thinker is one of the 
very best kinds of training that a boy or girl can receive at 
school. This is to read the very mind of Shakespeare, and 
to weave his thoughts into the fibre of one's own mental 
constitution. And always new rewards come to the care- 
ful reader — in the shape of new meanings, recogniti@n of 

5 



Vl. 

thoughts he had before missed, of relations between the 
characters that had hitherto escaped him. For reading 
Shakespeare is just like examining Nature ; there are no 
hollownesses, there is no scamped work, for Shakespeare 
is as patiently exact and as first-hand as Nature herself, 

" Besides this thorough working-out of Shakespeare's 
meaning, advantage has been taken of the opportunity to 
teach his English — to make each play an introduction to 
the English of Shakespeare. For this purpose copi- 
ous collections of similar phrases have been gathered from 
other plays ; his idioms have been dwelt upon ; his pecu- 
liar use of words ; his style and his rhythm. Some 
Teachers may consider that too many instances are given ; 
but, in teaching, as in everything else, the old French say- 
ing is true : Assez tCy a, s'll trop n^y a. The Teacher 
need not require each pupil to give him all the instances 
collected. If each gives one or two, it will probably be 
enough ; and, among them all, it is certain that one or two 
will stick in the memory. It is probable that, for those pu- 
pils who do not study either Greek or Latin, this close ex- 
amination of every word and phrase in the text of Shake- 
speare will be the best substitute that can be found for the 
study of the ancient classics. 

" It were much to be hoped that Shakespeare should 
become more and more of a study, and that every boy 
and girl should have a thorough knowledge of at least one 
play of Shakespeare before leaving school. It would be 
one of the best lessons in human life, without the chance 
of a polluting or degrading experience. It would also 
have the effect of bringing back into the too pale and for- 
mal English of modem times a large number of pithy and 



Vll. 



vigorous phrases which would help to develop as well as 
to reflect vigor in the characters of the readers. Shake- 
speare used the English language with more power than 
any other writer that ever lived — he made it do more and 
say more than it had ever done ; he made it speak in a 
more original way ; and his combinations of words are per- 
petual provocations and invitations to originality and to 
newness of insight." — J. M. D. Meiklejohn, M.A., 
Professor of the Theory^ History^ and Practice of Educa- 
tion in the University of St. Andrews, 



PLAN OF STUDY 



PERFECT POSSESSION, 



To attain to the standard of * Perfect Pos- 
session/ the reader ought to have an inti- 
mate and ready knowledge of the subject. 
(See opposite page.) 

The student ought, first of all, to read the 
play as a pleasure ; then to read it over again, 
with his mind upon the characters and the 
plot ; and lastly, to read it for the meanings, 
grammar, &c. 

With the help of the scheme, he can easily 
draw up for himself short examination papers 
(i) on each scene, (2) on each act, (3) on 
the whole play. 



Ix. 

L The Plot and Story of the Play. 
{a) The general plot ; 
(d) The special incidents. 

2. The Characters: Ability to give a connected account 

of all that is done and most of what is said by- 
each character in the play. 

3. The Influence and Interplay of the Characters upon 

each other. 

(a) Relation of A to B and of B to A ; 
(d) Relation of A to C and D. 

4. Complete Possession of the Language. 

(a) Meanings of words ; 

{d) Use of old words, or of words in an old mean- 
ing ; 

(c) Grammar; 

(d) Ability to quote lines to illustrate a gram- 

matical point. 
6. Power to Eeproduce, or Quote. 

(a) What was said by A or B on a particular 

occasion ; 
(d) What was said by A in reply to B ; 

(c) What argument was used by C at a particu- 

lar juncture ; 

(d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or of 

a peculiar meaning. 
6. Power to Locate. 

(a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain 

person on a certain occasion ; 
(d) To cap a line ; 
{c) To fill in the right word or epithet. 



PASSAGES ILLtrSTHATIVE 

OF 

SHAKESPEARE^S KING HENBY IV. • 
PART I, 

ABRIDaED FROM HOIilNSHED'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 



" Owen Glendower was son to an esquire of 
Wales. He was first set to study the laws of the 
realm, and became an utter barrister, or an appren- 
"Mce of the law (as they term him), and served King 
Richard at Flint Castle when he was taken by Henry 
duke of Lancaster ; though others have written that 
he served this King Henry IV., before he came to 
attain the crown, in room of an esquire ; and after, 
by reason of variance that rose betwixt him and the 
Lord Reginald Grey of Ruthin, about the lands which 
he claimed to be his by right of inheritance, when 
he saw that he might not prevail, finding no such 
favor in his suit as he looked for, he first made war 
against the said Lord Grey, wasting his lands and pos- 
sessions with fire and sword. The king, advertised 
of such rebellious exploits, enterprised by the said 
Owen and his unruly complices, determined to chas- 
tise them, and so with an army entered into Wales ; 
but the Welshmen with their captain withdrew into 
the mountains of Snowdon. 



12 PASS A GES ILL USTRA TIVE OF 

**Owen Glendower, according to his accustomed 
manner, robbing and spoiling within the English 
borders, caused all the forces of the shire of Here- 
ford to assemble against them under the conduct of 
Edmund Mortimer, earl of March. But, whether by 
treason or otherwise, so it fortuned, that the English 
power was discomfited, the earl taken prisoner, and 
about a thousand of his people slain. The shameful 
villainy used by the Welsh women towards the 
dead carcasses was such as honest ears would be 
ashamed to hear, and continent tongues to speak 
thereof. The king was not hasty to purchase the de- 
liverance of the earl of March, because his title to the 
crown was well enough known, and therefore suffered 
him to remain in miserable prison. 

" The king, to chastise the Welshmen, went with a 
great power of men into Wales to pursue the captain 
of the Welsh rebels, Owen Glendower ; but Owen 
conveyed himself out of the way into his known 
lurking-places ; and (as was thought) through art 
magic he caused such foul weather of winds, tempest, 
rain, snow and hail to be raised, for the avoidance of 
the king's army, that the like had not been heard of: 
in such sort that the king was constrained to return 
home. 

^'Archibald, Earl Douglas, procured a commission 
to invade England, and that to his cost. For at a 
place called Homeldon they were so fiercely assailed 
by the Englishmen, under the leading of the Lord 
Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur, and George, earl 
of March, that with violence of the English shot they 



KING HENRY IV. 13 

were quite vanquished and put to flight. There were 
slain, of men of estimation, Sir John Swinton, Sir 
Adam Gordon, etc., and three-and-twenty knights, 
besides ten thousand of the commons ; and, of pris- 
oners, among others were these : Mordake,earl of Fife, 
son to the governor, Archibald, earl of Douglas, ^ 
Thomas, earl of Murray, Robert, earl of Angus, etc. 

*' Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, prisoner with 
Owen Glendower, whether for irksomeness of cruel 
cajDtivity or fear of death, or what other cause, it is 
uncertain, agreed to take part with Owen against the 
king of England, and took to wife the daughter of 
the said Owen. Strange wonders happened (as men 
reported) at the nativity of this man ; for the same 
night that he was born all his father's horses in the 
stable were found to stand in blood up to the bellies. 

** Henry, earl of Northumberland, with his brother 
Thomas, earl of Worcester, and his son, the Lord 
Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, which were to 
King Henry, in the beginning of his reign, both 
faithful friends and earnest aiders, began now to envy 
his wealth and felicity; and especially they were 
grieved, because the king demanded of the earl and 
his son such Scottish prisoners as were taken at 
Homeldon and Nesbit : for of all the captives which 
were taken in the conflicts fought in those two places. 



1 In Holinshed, an omission of the comma after the word 
"governor" misled Shakespeare to call Mordake "eldest 
son to beaten Douglas." The governor or regent of Scot- 
land was Robert, duke of Albany. See the 2d line on the 
ne^it page. 



14 PASSA GES ILL USTEA TIVE OF 

there was delivered to the king's possession only 
Mordake, earl of Fife, the duke of Albany's son, 
though the king did divers and sundry times require 
deliverance of the residue, and that with great threat- 
enings : wherewith the Percies being sore offended, 
for that they claimed them as their own proper pris- 
oners, and their peculiar prizes, by the counsel of the 
Lord Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester, whose study 
was ever (as some write) to procure malice, and set 
things in a broil, came to the king unto Windsor 
(upon a purpose to prove him), and there require of 
him that, either by ransom or otherwise, he would 
cause to be delivered out of prison Edmund Morti- 
mer, earl of March, their cousin gorman, whom (as 
they reported) Owen Glendower kept in filthy prison, 
shackled with irons, only for that he took his part, 
and was to him faithful and true. The king began not 
a little to muse at this request, and not without cause ; 
for indeed it touched him somewhat near, sith this 
Edmund was son to Roger, earl of March, which Ed- 
mund, at King Richard's going into Ireland, was 
proclaimed heir apparent to the crown, whose aunt, 
called Ellianor, the Lord Henry Percy had married, 
and therefore King Henry could not well bear that 
any man should be earnest about the advancement 
of that lineage. 

*'The king, when he had studied on the matter, 
made answer, that the earl of March was not taken 
prisoner for his cause, nor in his service, but wil- 
lingly suffered himself to be taken, because he would 
not withstand the attempts of Owen Glendower and 



KING HENRY IV. 15 

his complices, therefore he would neither ransom him 
nor release him. 

" The Percies with this answer and fraudulent ex- 
cuse were not a little fumed, insomuch that Henry 
Hotspur said openly : Behold, the heir of the realm 
is robbed of his right, and yet the robber with his 
own will not redeem him. So in this fury the Percies 
departed, minding nothing more than to depose 
King Henry from the high type of his royalty, and 
to place in his seat their cousin Edmund, earl of 
March, whom they did not only deliver out of cap- 
tivity, but also (to the high displeasure of King 
Henry) entered in league with the foresaid Owen 
Glendower. 

" Herewith they by their deputies, in the house of 
the archdeacon of Bangor, divided the realm amongst 
them, causing a tripartite indenture to be made, and 
sealed with their seals ; by the covenants whereof all 
England from Severn and Trent, south and eastward, 
was assigned to the earl of March ; all Wales, and the 
lands beyond Severn westward, were appointed to 
Owen Glendower ; and all the remnant, from Trent 
northward, to the Lord Percy. This was done (as 
some have said) through a foolish credit given to a 
vain prophecy, as though King Henry was the mold- 
warp, cursed of God's own mouth, and they three 
were the dragon, the lion, and the wolf, which should 
divide this realm between them. 

'' King Henry, not knowing of this confederacy, 
gathered a great army to go again into Wales, 
whereof the earl of Northumberland and his sou 



16 PASSA GES ILL USTRA TIVE OF 

were advertised by the earl of Worcester, and with 
all diligence raised all the power they could make, 
and sent to the Scots which before were taken pris- 
oners at Homeldon, for aid of men, promising to the 
earl of Douglas the town of Berwick and a part of 
Northumberland, and to other Scottish lords great 
lordships and seignories, if they obtained the upper . 
hand. The Scots, in hope of gain, and desirous to be 
revenged of their old griefs, came to the earl with a 
great company well appointed. 

*'The Percies, to make their part seem good, de- 
vised certain articles, by the advice of Richard 
Scroope, archbishop of York, brother to the Lord 
Scroope whom King Henry had caused to be be- 
headed at Bristow. These articles being showed to 
several noblemen, many of them did not only 
promise to the Percies aid and succor by words, but 
also by their writings and seals confirmed the same. 
Howbeit, when the matter came to trial, the most 
part of the confederates abandoned them. The Lord 
Henry Percy, desirous to proceed in the enterprise, 
upon trust to be assisted by Owen Glendower, the 
earl of March, and others, assembled an army south 
of Cheshire and Wales. Incontinently his uncle, 
Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester, tliat had the gov- 
ernment of the prince of Wales, who as then lay at 
London, in secret manner conveyed himself out of 
the prince's house, and coming to Stafford, where he 
met his nephew, they increased their power by all 
ways and means they could devise. The earl of 
Northumberland himself was not with them, but, 



KING HENRY IV. 17 

being sick, had promised upon his amendment to 
repair unto them. 

" King Henry, advertised of the proceedings of the 
Percies, forthwith gathered about him such power as 
he might make, and passed forward with such speed 
that he was in sight of his enemies lying in camp 
near to Shrewsbury, before they were in doubt of any 
such thing. 

** Now, when the two armies were encamped, the 
one against the other, the earl of Worcester and the 
Lord Percy with their complices sent the articles 
(whereof I spake before) by esquires to King Henry, 
which in effect charged him with manifest perjury ; 
in that (contrary to his oath received upon the evan- 
gelists at Doncaster, when he first entered the realm 
after his exile) he had taken upon him the crown and 
royal dignity, imprisoned King Richard, caused him 
to resign his title, and finally to be murdered. Di- 
vers other matters they laid to his charge, etc. King 
Henry after he had read their articles, with the de- 
fiance which they annexed to the same, answered the 
esquires that he was ready with dint of sword and 
fierce battle to prove their quarrel false. 

' ' The next day, in the morning early, the abbot 
of Shrewsbury and one of the clerks of the privy seal 
were sent from the king unto the Percies, to offer 
them pardon if they would come to any reasonable 
agreement. By their persuasions the Lord Henry 
Percy began to give ear unto the king's offers, and so 
sent with them his uncle, the earl of Worcester, to 
declare unto the king the causes of those troubles, 



18 PASS A GES ILL USTBA TIVE OF 

and to require some effectual reformation in the 
same. 

*^ It was reported for a truth, that now when the 
king had condescended unto all that was reasonable 
at his hands to be required, and seemed to humble 
himself more than was meet for his estate, the earl 
of Worcester, upon his return to his nephew, made 
relation clean contrary to that the king had said, in 
such sort that he set his nephew's heart more in dis- 
pleasure towards the king than ever it was before, 
driving him by that means to fight whether he would 
or not ; then suddenly blew the trumpets ; the king's 
part crying SU George upon them, the adversaries 
cried Esperance Percys and so the two armies furi- 
ously joined. 

** The prince that day holp his father like a lusty 
young gentleman ; for although he was hurt in the 
face with an arrow so that divers noblemen that were 
about him would have conveyed him forth of the 
field, yet he would not suffer them so to do, lest his 
departure from amongst his men might happily have 
stricken some fear into their hearts. At length the 
king crying St, George, Victory, brake the array of 
his enemies, and adventured so far that (as some 
write) the Earl Douglas strake him down, and at that 
instant slew Sir Walter Blunt, and three others, ap- 
pareled in the king's suit and clothing : saying, I 
marvel to see so many kings thus suddenly arise, one 
in the neck of another. The king indeed was raised, 
and did that day many a noble feat of arms. The 
other on his part encouraged by his doings fought 



KING HENRY IV. 19 

valiantly, and slew the Lord Percy, called Sir Henry 
Hotspur. To conclude, the king's enemies were van- 
quished and put to flight ; in which flight the earl of 
Douglas, for haste, falling from the crag of a high 
mountain, was taken, and, for his valiantness, of the 
king frankly and freely delivered. There were also 
taken the earl of Worcester, the procurer and setter 
forth of all this mischief. Sir Richard Vernon, with 
divers others. The earl of Worcester, the baron of 
Kinderton and Sir Richard Yernon, knights, were 
condemned and beheaded.'' 



FROM PROF. DOWDEN'S 
**MIND AND ART OF SHAKESPEARE.'' 

** BoLiNGBROKE utters few words in the play of 
Richard II.; yet we feel that from the first the chief 
force centers in him. He possesses every element of 
power except those which are spontaneous and un- 
conscious. He is dauntless, but his courage is under 
the control of his judgment; it never becomes a glo- 
rious martial rage like that of the Greek Achilles, or 
like that of the English Henry, Bolingbroke's son. 
He is ambitious, but his ambition is not an inordi- 
nate desire to wreak his will upon the world, and 
expend a fiery energy like that of Richard the Third ; 
it is an ambition which aims at definite ends, and can 
be held in reserve till these are attainable. He is 
studious to obtain the good graces of nobles and of 
people, and he succeeds because, wedded to his end. 



20 PASSAGES ILLUSTRATIVE OF 

he does not become impatient of the means ; but he 
is wholly lacking in genius of the heart, and there- 
fore he obtains the love of no man. He is indeed 
formidable ; his enemies describe England as 

* A bleeding land 
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke ;' 

and he is aware of his strength; but there is in his 
nature no fund of incalculable strength of which he 
cannot be aware. All his faculties are well organized, 
and help one another ; he is embarrassed by no 
throng of conflicting desires or sympathies. He is 
resolved to win the throne, and has no personal hos- 
tility to the king to divide or waste his energies ; only 
a little of contempt. In the deposition scene he gives 
as little pain as may be to Richard ; he controls and 
checks Northumberland, who irritates and excites 
the king by requiring him to read the articles of his 
accusation. Because Bolingbroke is strong, he is not 
cruel. He decides when to augment his power by 
clemency, and when by severity. Aumerle he can 
pardon, who will live to fight and fall gallantly for 
Henry's son at Agincourt. He can dismiss to a dig- 
nified retreat the Bishop, who, loyal to the hereditary 
principle, had pleaded against Henry's title to the 
throne. But Bushy, Green, and such like caterpillars 
of the Commonwealth, Henry has sworn to weed and 
pluck away. And, when he pardons Aumerle, he 
sternly decrees to death his own brother-in-law. 

" The honor of England he cherished not with pas- 
sionate devotion, but with a strong, considerate care, 
as though it were his own honor. There is nothing 



KING HENRY IV, 21 

infiiiite in the character of Henrj^, but his is a strong 
finite character. When he has attained the object of 
his ambition, he is still aspiring; but he does not 
aspire towards anything higher and further than that 
which he had set before him ; his ambition is now 
to hold firmly that which he has energetically grasped. 
He tries to control England as he controlled roan 
Barbary : 

* Great Bolingbroke, 
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed, 
"Which his aspiring rider seem'd to know, 
With slow but stately pace kept on his course. ' 

* Even in his policy, ' Mr. Hudson has truly said, 

* there was much of the breadth and largeness which 
distinguished the statesman from the politician. ' He 
can conceive beforehand with practical imaginative 
faculty the exigencies of a case, and provide for 
them 

*^ Yet the success of Bolingbroke — although he suc- 
ceeded to the full measure of his powers and lost no 
opportunity by laxness or self-indulgence — was not 
a complete achievement. When a little before his 
death his heart was at last set right with his son's 
heart, he could confess, 

* God knows, my son. 
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways 
I met this crown, and I myself know well 
How troublesome it sat upon my head. 

To thee it sliall descend with better quiet, 
Better opinion, better confirmation. ' 

By caution and by boldness he had won the crown, 
and held it resolutely. But his followers fell away ; 



22 PASS A GES ILL USTMA TIVE OF 

the truculent nobles of the North were in revolt ; and 
there was a profound suspicion of the policy of the 
king. One son had reproduced the character of his 
father without the larger and finer features of that 
character. The other he could not understand, fail- 
ing to discern, almost up to the last, the steadfast 
hidden loyalty and love of that son. It is hard for 
the free, spontaneous heart to disclose itself to the 
deliberate and cautious heart, which yet yearns 
pathetically for a child's afiection. There is some- 
thing piteously undiscerning in the wish of the 
father of a Henry the Fifth that he might have been 
the father of a Hotspur. . . . 

Shakespeare has judged Henry the Fourth and 
pronounced that his life was not a failure ; still it was 
at best a partial success. Shakespeare saw, and he 
proceeded to show to others, that all which Boling- 
broke had attained, and almost incalculably greater 
possession of good things, could be attained more 
joyously by nobler means. The unmistakable en- 
thusiasm of the poet about his Henry the Fifth has 
induced critics to believe that in him we find Shake- 
speare's ideal of manhood. He must certainly be 
regarded as Shakespeare's ideal of manhood in the 
sphere of practical achievement — the hero and cen- 
tral figure, therefore, of the historical plays. 

**The fact has been noticed that with respect to 
Henry's youthful follies, Shakespeare deviated from 
all authorities known to have been accessible to 
him. *An extraordinary conversion was generally 
thought to have fallen upon the prince on coming to 



KINQ HENRY IV. 23 

the crown — inasrauch that the old chroniclers could 
only account for the change by some miracle of grace 
or touch of supernatural benediction.' {Hudson,) 
Shakespeare, it would seem, engaged now upon his- 
torical matter and not the fantastic substance of a 
comedy, found something incredible in the sudden 
transformation of a reckless libertine (the Henry de- 
scribed by Caxton, by Fabyan, and others) into a 
character of majestic force and large practical wis- 
dom. Kather than reproduce this incredible popular 
tradition concerning Henry, Shakespeare preferred 
to attempt the difl3.cult task of exhibiting the prince 
as a sharer in the wild frolic of youth, while at the 
same time he was holding himself prepared for the 
splendid entrance upon his manhood, and stood 
really aloof in his inmost being from the unworthy 
life of his associates. 

" The change which effected itself in the prince, as 
represented by Shakespeare, was no miraculous con- 
version, but merely the transition from boyhood to 
adult years, and from unchartered freedom to the 
solemn responsibilities of a great ruler. We must 
not suppose that Henry formed a deliberate plan for 
concealing the strength and splendor of his character, 
in order afterwards to flash forth upon men's sight 
and overwhelm and dazzle them. When he solilo- 
quizes (i, 2. 219, seq.), having bid farewell to Poins and 
Falstaff— 

* T know you all, and will awhile uphold 
The unyok'd humor of your idleness ; 
Yet herein will I imitate the sun, 



24 PASSA GES ILL USTBA TIVE OF 

Who doth permit the base, contagious clouds 
To smother up his beauty from the world, 
That, when he please again to be himself, 
Being wanted, he may be more wonder' d at, 
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists 
Of vapors that did seem to strangle him ' — 

when Henry soliloquizes thus, Ave are not to suppose 
that he w^as quite as wise and dij)loniatical as he 
pleased to represent himself, for the time being, to 
his ow^n heart and conscience. The prince entered 
heartily and without reserve into the fun and frolic 
of his Eastcheap life ; the vigor and the folly of it 
were delightful; to be clapped on the back, and 
shouted for as ' Hal, ' was far better than the doffing 
of caps and crooking of knees, and delicate, unreal 
phraseology of the court. But Henry, at the same 
time, kept himself from subjugation to what was 
really base. He could truthfully stand before his 
father (iii. 2) and maintain that his nature was sub- 
stantially sound and untainted, capable of redeem- 
ing itself from all past, superficial dishonor. 

'*Has Shakespeare erred? Or is it not possible to 
take energetic part in a provisional life, which is 
known to be provisional, while at the same time a man 
holds his truest self in reserve for the life that is best 
and highest and most real ? May not the very con- 
sciousness, indeed, that such a life is provisional, 
enable one to give oneself away to it, satisfying its 
demands with scrupulous care, or with full and free 
enjoyment, as a man could not if it w^ere a life which 
had any chance of engaging his whole personality, 
and that finally? Is it possible to adjust two states of 



2 



ally of ten syllables, of which the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and 
tenth are accented. The line consists, therefore, of live parts, each 
of which contains an unaccented followed by an accented syllable, 
as in the word attend. Each of these five parts forms what is called 
2ifoot or measure ; and the five together form a pentameter. '' Penta- 
meter "is a Greek word signifying "five measures." This is the 
usual form of a line of blank verse. But a long poem composed en- 
tirely of such Unes would be monotonous, and for the sake of variety 
several important modifications have been introduced. 

{a) After the tenth syllable, one or two unaccented syllables are 
sometimes added ; as— 

*' Me-tlwught \ you said \ you nei \ ther lend \ nor bar I row.''' 

(b) In any foot the accent may be shifted from the second to the 
first syllable, provided two accented syllables do not come together. 

" Pluck' the I young suck' \ ing cubs' \from the' \ she bear'. \ " 

(c) In such words as "yesterday," "voluntary," "honesty," the 
syllables -day^ -ta-., and ty falling in the place of the accent, are, 
for the purposes of the verse, regarded as truly accented. 

" Bars' me I the right' \ of vol'- \ un-ta' I ry choos' \ ing.'''' 

(d) Sometimes we have a succession of accented syllables ; this 
occurs with monosyllabic feet only. 

" Why, noiv, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark.^' 

{e) Sometimes, but more rarely, two or even three unaccented 
syllables occupy the place of one ; as— 

" He says \ he does, | be-ing then \ most flat \ ter-edJ"' 

(f) Lines may have any number of feet from one to six. 

Finally, Shakespeare adds much to the pleasins: variety of his 
blank verse by placing the pauses in different parts of the line 
(especially after the second or third foot), instead of placing them 
all at the ends of lines, as was the earlier custom. 

N. B. — In some cases the rhythm requires that what we usually 
pronounce as one syllable shall be divided into two, asfl-er (fire), 
su-er (sure), mi-el /mile), &c. ; too-elve (twelve), jaw-ee (joy), &c. 
Similarly, she-on (tion or -sion). 

It is very important to give the pupil plenty of ear-training by 
means of formal scansion. This will greatly assist him in his 
reading. 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 



King Henry the Fourth. 

Henry, Prince of Wales, son to the king. 

Prince John of Lancaster, son to the king. 

Earl of Westmoreland, /rierid to the king. 

Sir Walter Blunt, friend to the king, 

Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, 

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. 

Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, son to the Earl 

of Nor thutnher land, 
Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, 
Scroop, Archbishojy of York. 
Sir Michael, a friend of the Archbishop, 
Archibald, Earl of Douglas, 
Owen Glendower. 
Sir Richard Yernon. 
Sir John Falstaff. 

POINS. 

Gadshill. 

Peto. 

Bardolph. 

Lady Percj, wife to ITotspur, and sister to Morti- 
mer, 

Lady Mortimer, daughter to Glendower, and wife 
to Mortimer, 

Mrs. Quickly, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. 

Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, 

Drawers, Two Carriers, Travelers, and Attendants. 

SCENE— England. 



Kino Henry IV 



ACT I. 

SCENE I. London, The Palace, 

Enter King Henry, Lord John of Lancaster, 
the Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter 
Blunt, and others. 

King, So shaken as we are, so wan with care, 
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant. 
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils 
To be commenced in strands afar remote. 
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil 5 

Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood ; 
No more shall trenching war channel her fields, 
Nor bruise her flow 'rets with the armbd hoofs 
Of hostile paces : those opposed eyes. 
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 10 

All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in the intestine shock 
And furious close of civil butchery. 
Shall now, in mutual, wxU-beseeming ranks, 
March all one way, and be no more oppos'd 15 

Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies : 
The edge of war, like an ill-sheath^d knife, 
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends, 
As far as to the sepulcher of Christ, — 
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross 20 

We are impressed and engag'd to fight, — 



30 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

Forthwith a power of English shall we levy 
To chase these pagans in those holy fields 
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet 

25 Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were naiPd 
For our advantage on the l3itter cross. 
But this our purpose is a twelve-month old, 
And bootless 't is to tell you — we will go ; 
Therefore we meet not now. — Then let me hear 

30 Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland, 
What yesternight our council did decree 
In forwarding this dear expedience. 

Westmoreland, My liege, this haste was hot in 
question 5 
And many limits of the charge set down 

35 But yesternight : when, all athwart, there came 
A post from Wales, loaden with heavy news ; 
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer, 
Leading the men of Herefordshire tv> fight 
Against th' irregular and wild Glendower, 

40 Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken, 
A thousand of his people butchered ; 
Upon whose dead corpse there w^as such misuse, 
Such beastly, shameless transformation. 
By those Welshwomen done, as may not be, 

45 Without much shame, re-told or spoken of. 

King, It seems, then, that the tidings of this 
broil 
Brake off our business for the Holy Land. 

Westmoreland, This match' d with other did, my 
gracious lord ; 
For more uneven and unwelcome news 

50 Came from the north, and thus it did import : 
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there, 
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald, 
That ever-valiant and approved Scot, 
At Holmedon met, 



sc. i] KING HENRY IV. 31 

Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour, 5- 

As by discharge of their artillery, 

And shape of likelihood, the news was told ; 

For he that brought them, in the very heat 

And pride of their contention did take horse, 

Uncertain of the issue any way. 60 

King. Here is a dear, a true-industrious friend, 
Sir Walter Blunt, new-lighted from his horse, 
Stain 'd with the variation of each soil 
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours ; 
And he hath brought us smooth and w^elcome news. 65 
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited ; 
Ten thousand bold Scots, two-and-twenty knights, 
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see 
On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hots^^ur took 
Mordake, the Earl of Fife, and eldest son 70 

To beaten Douglas, and the Earl of Athol, 
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith. 
And is not this an honorable spoil? 
A gallant prize? ha ! cousin, is it not? 

Westmoreland. In faith, 75 

It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. 

King. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad and mak^st 
me sin 
In envy that my Lord Northumberland 
Should be the father to so blest a son, 
A son who is the theme of honor's tongue ; 80 

Amongst a grove the very straightest plant ; 
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride : 
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him, 
See riot and dishonor stain the brow 
Of my young Harry. O, that it could be prov'd 85 
That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd 
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay. 
And caird mine Percy, his Plantagenet ! 
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine. 



32 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

90 But let him from my thoughts. — What think you, 
coz, 
Of this young Percy's pride ? the prisoners 
Which he in this adventure hath surprised 
To his own use he keeps, and sends me word 
I shall have none but Mordake, Earl of Fife. 
95 Westmoreland, This is his uncle's teaching, this 

is Worcester, 
Malevolent to you in all aspects ; 
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up 
The crest of youth against your dignit3^ 
King, But I have sent for him to answer this ; 
100 And, for this cause, awhile we must neglect 
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem. 
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we 
Will hold at Windsor : so inform the lords ; 
But come yourself with speed to us again. 
For more is to be said and to be done 
Than out of anger can be uttered. 

Westmoreland, I will, my liege. [Exeunt, 



105 



SCENE II. London, An Apartment of the 
Prince'' s. 

Enter the Prince of Wales and Falstaff. 

Falstaff, Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad ? 

Prince, Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of 
old sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and 
sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast 
5 forgotten to demand that truly which thou would' st 
truly know. What hast thou to do with the time 
of the day ? unless hours were cups of sack, and 
minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of ' trulls,' 
and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in 
10 flame-colored tafleta, I see no reason why thou 



BC. II.] KING HENRY IV. 33 

shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of 
the day. 

FaMaff, Indeed, you come near me now, Hal ; 
for we that take purses go by the moon and the 
seven stars, and not by PhcBbus, — he, that luander- 15 
ing knight so fair. And, I prithee, sweet wag, 
wiien thou art king, as, God save thy grace, — 
majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have 
none, — 

Prince. What, none? 20 

Falstaff, No, by my troth, not so much as will 
serve to be prologue to an ^^^ and butter. 

Prince, Well, how then? come, roundly, 
roundly. 

Falstaff, Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art 25 
king, let not us that are squires of the night's body 
be called thieves of the day's beauty ; let us be 
Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions 
of the moon ; and let men say we be men of good 
government, being governed, as the sea is, by our 3^ 
noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose 
countenance we — steal. 

Prince, Thou say'st well, and it holds well too ; 
for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth 
ebb and flow like the sea, being govern' d, as the 35 
sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, now : a purse 
of gold most resolutely snatch' d on Monday night, 
and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning ; 
got with swearing Lay hy^ and spent with crying 
Bring in ; now in as low an ebb as the foot of the 40 
ladder, and b}^ and by in as high a flow as the ridge 
of the gallows. 

Falstaff, By the Lord, thou say'st true, lad. 
And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet 
wench? ^ 45 

Prince, As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the 



34 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe 
of durance ? 

FaMaff, How now, how now, mad wag ! w^liat, 
50111 thy quills and thy quiddities? what a i)lague 
have I to do witli a buff jerlvin ? 

Prince. Wli}^, what a * i^lague ' liave I to do wutli 
my hostess of tlie tavern ? 

Falstaff. Well, thou hast calPd her to a reckon- 
55 ing many a time and oft. 

Prince. Did I ever call for thee to p>ay thy part ? 

Falstaff. No ; I '11 give thee thy due, thou hast 
paid all there. 

Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin 
60 would stretch ; and, where it would not, I have 
used my credit. 

Falstaff'. Yea, and so used it that, were it not 
here apj^arent that thou art heir apparent, — but, I 
prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallow^s standing 
65 in England when thou art king? and resolution 
thus fobb'd as it is Avith the rusty curb of old father 
antic the law ? Do not thou, w hen thou art king, 
hang a thief. 

Prince. No ; thou shall. 
70 Falstaff. Shall I? O rare ! By the Lord, I'll be 
a brave judge ! 

Prince. Thou judgest false already ; I mean, thou 
shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and so be- 
come a rare hangman. 
75 Falstaff. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it 
jumps with my humor as well as waiting in the 
court, I can tell you. 

Prince. For obtaining of suits ? 

Falstaff. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the 
80 hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am 
as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugg'd bear. 

Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. 



sc. 



II.] KING HENRY IV. 35 



Falstaff, Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bag- 
pipe. 

Prince, What say'st thou to a hare, or the mel- 85 
ancholy of Moor-ditch ? 

Falstaff. Thou hast the most unsavory similes ; 
and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascalliest, 
sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble 
me no more with vanity. I would thou and 1 90 
knew w^here a commodity of good names were to 
be bought ! An old lord of the council rated me 
the other day in the street about you, sir, but I 
marked him not; and yet he talk' d very wisely, 
but I regarded him not ; and yet he talk'd wisely, 95 
and in the street too. 

Prince. Thou did'st well ; for w^isdom cries out 
in the streets, and no man regards it. 

Falstaff. O, thou hast abominable iteration, and 
art, indeed, able to corrui)t a saint. Thou hast ico 
done much harm upon me, Hal ; God forgive thee 
for it ! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing ; 
and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little 
better than one of the wicked. I must give over 
this life, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an 105 
I do not, I am a villain ! I '11 be * undone ' for never 
a king's son in Christendom. 

Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, 
Jack? 

Falstaff. Zounds, where thou wilt, lad, I '11 make 1 10 
one ; an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me. 

Prince, I see a good amendment of life in thee ; 
from praying to purse-taking. 

Falstaff. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis 
no sin for a man to labor in his vocation. 1 1 5 

Enter PoiNS. 

Poins ! — Now shall w^e know if Gadshill have set a 



36 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

match. — O, if men were to be saved by merit, what 
hole were hot enough for him ? This is the most 
omnipotent villain that ever cried Stand to a true 
1 20 man. 

Prince. Good morrow, Ned. 

Poins, Good morrow, sweet Hal. — What says 

Monsieur Bemorse ? what says Sir John Sack-and- 

Sugar ? Jack ! how agrees the devil and thee about 

125 thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good Friday last 

for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg? 

Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil 
shall have his bargain ; for he was never yet a 
breaker of proverbs : he will give the devil his due. 
1 20 Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morn- 
ing, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill ! there are 
pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich olFerings, 
and traders riding to London with fat purses. I 
have vizors for you all ; you have horses for your- 
1 3 5 selves. Gadshill lies to-night in Bochester ; I have 
bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap ; we 
may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will 
stuff your purses full of crowns ; if you will not, 
tarry at home and be hang'd. 
140 Falstaff. Hear ye, Yedward ; if I tarry at home 
and go not, I '11 hang you for going. 
Poins. You will, chops ? 
Falstaff. Hal, wilt thou make one ? 
Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my 
145 faith. 

Falstaff. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor 
good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'st not of the 
blood royal, if thou dar'st not stand for ten shil- 
lings. 
150 Prince. Well, then, once in my days I'll be a 
madcap. 
Falstaff. Why, that's well said. 



sc. II. J KING HENRY IV. 87 

Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. 

Falstaff. I 41 be a traitor, then, when thou art 
king. 155 

Prince, I care not. 

Poins, Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and 
me alone ; I will lay him down such reasons for 
this adventure that he shall go. 

Falstaff. Well, God give thee the spirit of persua- 160 
sion, and him the ears of profiting, that what thou 
speakest may move, and what he hears may be 
believed, that the true prince may, for recreation 
sake, prove a false thief ; for the poor abuses of the 
time want countenance. Farewell ; you shall find 165 
me in Eastcheap. 

Prince, Farewell, thou latter spring ! farewell, 
All-hallown summer ! [Exit Falstaff. 

Poins. Now, my good, sweet, honey lord, ride 
with us to-morrow ; I have a jest to execute that I i/o 
cannot manage alone. Falstafif, Bardolph, Peto, 
and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have 
already waylaid : yourself and I will not be there ; 
and, when they have the booty, if you and I do 
not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders. ^75 

Prince. How shall we part with them in setting 
forth ? 

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after 
them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein 
it is at our pleasure to fail ; and then will they ad- ^ ^^ 
venture upon the exploit themselves ; which they 
shall have no sooner achieved, but we' 11 set upon 
them. 

Prince, Ay, but 't is like that they will know us 
by our horses, by our habits, and by every other 185 
appointment, to be ourselves. 

Pohw, Tut ! our horses they shall not see ; I '11 
tie them in the wood : our vizors we will change 



38 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

after we leave them ; and, sirrah, I have eases of 

190 buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted out- 
ward garments. 
Prince. But I doubt they will be too hard for us. 
Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be 
as true-bred cowards as ever turned back ; and, for 

195 the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll 
forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be the 
incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will 
tell us when we meet at supper : how thirty, at 
least, he fought with ; what wards, what blows, 

200 what extremities he endured ; and in the reproof 
of this lies the jest. 

Prince, Well, I '11 go with thee : provide us all 
things necessary, and meet me to-night in East- 
cheap ; there I '11 suj). Farewell. 

205 Poins. Farewell, my lord. [Exit. 

Prince, I know you all, and will awhile uphold 
The unyok'd humor of your idleness ; 
Yet herein will I imitate the sun. 
Who doth permit the base, contagious clouds 

210 To smother up his beauty from the world, 
That, when he please again to be himself. 
Being wanted, he may be more wonder' d at. 
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists 
Of vapors that did seem to strangle him. 

215 If all the year were playing holidays, 
To sport would be as tedious as to work ; 
But, when they seldom come, they w^ish'd-for come, 
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. 
So, when this loose behavior I throw off, 

220 And pay the debt I never promised. 

By how much better than my word I am 
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ; 
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground, 
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV, 39- 

Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes 22; 
Than that which hath no foil to set it off. ^ 

I '11 so otfend, to make ofTence a skill ; 
Redeeming time when men think least I will. 

iExiL 

SCENE 111,— London, The Palace, 

Enter the King, Northumberland, Worces- 
ter, Hotspur, Sir Walter Blunt, with 
others. 

King, My blood hath been too cold and tem- 
perate, 
Unapt to stir at these indignities. 
And you have found me ; for, accordingly. 
You tread upon my patience , but be sure 
I will henceforth rather be myself, 5 

Mighty and to be feared, than my condition. 
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down. 
And therefore lost that title of respect 
Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. 

Worcester. Our house, my sovereign liege, little 10 
deserves 
The scourge of greatness to be used on it ; 
And that same greatness, too, which our own hands 
Have holp to make so portly. 

Northumberland, My lord, — 

King, Worcester, get thee gone ; for I do see i 5 
Danger and disobedience in thine eye. 
O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, 
And majesty might never yet endure 
The moody frontier of a servant brow. 
You have good leave to leave us ; when we need 20 
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. — 

lExit Worcester. 
You were about to speak. [ To Northumberland. 



40 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

Northumberland. Yea, my good lord. 

Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded, 
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, 

25 Were, as he says, not with such strength denied 
As is delivered to your majesty : 
Either envy, therefore, or misprision 
Is guilty of this fault, and not my son. 
Hotspur. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. 

30 But, I remember, when the fight was done, 
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil. 
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword. 
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress' d, 
Fresh as a bridegroom ; and his chin new reap'd 

35 Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home. 
He was perfumed like a milliner, 
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon 
He gave his nose, and took 't away again ; 

40 Who, therewith angry, when it next came there, 
Took it in snuff"; and still he smiPd and talk'd ; 
And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by. 
He calPd them untaught knaves, unmannerly. 
To bring a slovenly, unhandsome corse 

45 Betwixt the wind and his nobility. 
With many holiday and lady terms 
He questioned me ; among the rest, demanded 
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf. 
I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, 

50 Out of my grief and my impatience 
To be so pester' d with a popinjay, 
Answer'd neglectingly I know not what, — 
He should, or he should not ; for he made me mad 
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, 

55 And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman 

Of guns and drums and wounds, —God save the 
mark ! — 



sc. m.] KING HENRY IV. 41 

And telling me the sovereign \st thing on earth 

Was parmaceti for an inward bruise ; 

And that it was great pity, so it was, 

This villainous salt-i^eter should be digged 60 

Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, 

Which many a good tall fellow had destroyed 

So cowardly ; and, but for these vile guns, 

He w^ould himself have been a soldier. 

This bald, unjointed chat of his, my lord, 65 

I answered indirectly, as I said ; 

And, I beseech you, let not this report 

Come current for an accusation 

Betwixt my love and your high majesty. 

Blunt, The circumstance considered, good my 70 
lord, 
Whatever Lord Harry Percy then had said 
To such a person and in such a place. 
At such a time, with all the rest re-told, 
May reasonably die, and never rise 
To do him wTong, or any way impeach 75 

What then he said, so he unsay it now. 

King, Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners. 
But with proviso and exception, 
That w^e at our own charge shall ransom straight 
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer ; 80 

Who, on my soul, hath willfully betray 'd 
The lives of those that he did lead to fight 
Against the great magician, ' wild ^ Glendower, 
Whose daughter, as w^e hear, the Earl of March 
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then, 85 

Be emptied to redeem a traitor home ? 
Shall we buy treason ? and indent w^ith fears, 
When they have lost and forfeited themselves ? 
No, on the barren mountains let him starve ; 
For I shall never hold that man my friend 90 

Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost 



42 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

To ransom home revolted Mortimer I 

Hotspur, Revolted Mortim.er ! 
He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, 

9 5 But by the chance of war ; to prove that true 
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, 
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, 
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, 
In single op]30sition, hand to hand, 

loo He did confound the best part of an hour 

In changing hardiment with great Glendower. 
Three times they breath'd and three times did they 

drink. 
Upon agreement, of swift Severn^ s flood ; 
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, 

105 Ban fearfully among the trembling reeds, 
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank 
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants. 
Never did base and rotten policy 
Color her working with such deadly wounds ; 

1 10 Nor never could the noble Mortimer 
Receive so many, and all willingly : 
Then let not him be slander' d with revolt. 
King, Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost be- 
lie him ; 
He never did encounter with Glendower. 

1 1 5 I tell thee. 

He durst as well have met the devil alone 
As Owen Glendower for an enemy. 
Art not asham'd ? But, sirrah, henceforth 
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer. 

1 20 Send me your prisoners with the speediest means. 
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me 
As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland, 
We license your departure with your son.— 
Send us your prisoners, or you '11 hear of it. 

[Uxeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train. 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 43 

Hotspur. An if the devil come and roar for them, 125 
I will not send them. — I will after straight 
And tell him so ; for I will ease my heart, 
Although it be with hazard of my head. 

Northumberland. What, drmik with choler? 
stay and pause awhile. — 
Here comes your uncle. 

Re-enter Worcester. 

Hotspur. Speak of Mortimer ! 1 30 

Zounds, I will speak of him ; and let my soul 
Want ni'^^rcy, if I do not join with him ; 
Yea, on his i)art I '11 empty all these veins, 
And shed my dear blood droj) by drop i' the dust. 
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer* 135 

As high i' the air as this unthankful king. 
As this ingrate and canker' d Bolingbroke. 
Northuraberland. Brother, the king hath made 

your nephew mad. 
Worcester. Who struck this heat up after I was 

gone ? 
Hotspur. He will, forsooth, have all my prison- 
ers ; 140 
And when I urg'd the ransom once again 
Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale, 
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death. 
Trembling even at the name of INIortimer. 

Worcester. I cannot blame him ; was he not pro- 
claim 'd 145 
By Richard that dead is the next of blood ? 
Northumberland. He was ; I heard the procla- 
mation ; 
And then it was when the unhappy king, — 
Whose wrongs in us God pardon ! — did set forth 
Upon his Irish expedition ; i cq 
From whence he, intercepted, did return 



44 KING HENR Y IV. [act i. 

To be deposed, and shortly murdered. 

WorGeste7\ And for whose death we in the 
world's wide mouth 
Live scandaliz'd and foully spoken of. 
Hotspur, But, soft, I pray you ; did King Rich- 

155 ard then 

Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer 
Heir to the crown ? 
Northumberland. He did ; myself did hear it. 
Hotspur. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin 
king, 
That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. 

1 60 But shall it be, that you that set the crown 
Upon the head of this forgetful man. 
And for his sake wear the detested blot 
Of murderous subornation — shall it be 
That you a world of curses undergo, 

165 Being the agents, or base second means. 

The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather ? 
O, pardon me that I descend so low. 
To show the line and the predicament 
Wherein you range under this subtle king ! 

1 70 Shall it, for shame, be spoken in these days, 
Or fill up chronicles in time to come. 
That men of your nobility and power 
Did 'gage them both in an unjust behalf, — 
As both of you, God pardon it, have done, — 

175 To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose. 
And plant this thorn, this canker, Boling broke ? 
And shall it, in more shame, be further spoken. 
That you are fool'd, discarded, and shook off 
By him for whom these shames ye underwent ? 

1 80 No ; yet time serves wherein you may redeem 
Your banish' d honors, and restore yourselves 
Into the good thoughts of the world again ; 
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt 



J 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 45 

Of this proud king, who studies day and night 
To answer all the debt he owes to you 1 85 

Even with the bloody payment of your deaths. 
Therefore, I say, — 

Worcester. Peace, cousin, say no more. 

And now I will unclasp a secret book. 
And to your quick-conceiving discontents 
I '11 read you matter deep and dangerous, 190 

As full of peril and adventurous spirit 
As to o'er-walk a current, roaring loud, 
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear. 

Hotspur. If he fall in, good night ! or sink or 
swim ; 
Send danger from the east unto the west, i95 

So honor cross it from the north to south. 
And let them grapple ; O, the blood more stirs 
To rouse a lion than to start a hare ! 

Northwnherland. Imagination of some great ex- 
ploit 
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. 200 

Hotspur. By heaven, methinks it were an easy 
leap 
To pluck bright honor from the pale-fac'd moon. 
Or dive into the bottom of the deep. 
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground. 
And pluck up drowned honor by the locks, 20$ 

So he that doth redeem her thence might wear. 
Without corrival, all her dignities ; 
But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship ! 

Worcester. He apprehends a world of figures 
here. 
But not the form of what he should attend. — 210 

Good cousin, give me audience for a while. 

Hotspur. I cry you mercy. 

Worcester. Those same noble Scots 

That are your prisoners, — 



46 KING HENRY IV. [act i. 

Hotspur. I'll keep them all. 

By heaven, he shall not have a Scot of them ; 
215 No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not. 
I '11 keep them, by this hand. 

Worcester, You start away. 

And lend no ear unto my purposes. 
Those prisoners you shall keep. 

Hotsjjur. Nay, I will ; that's flat. 

He said he would not ransom Mortimer, 
220 Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ; 
But I will find him when he lies asleep, 
And in his ear I '11 holla Mortmier ! 
Nay, I '11 have a starling shall be taught to speak 
Nothing but Mortimer^ and give it him, 
225 To keep his anger still in motion. 

Worcester, Hear you, cousin : a word. 
Hotspur. All studies here I solemnly defy. 
Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke ; 
And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales, 
230 But that I think his father loves him not 

And would be glad he met with some mischance, 
I would have him poison 'd with a pot of ale. 

Worcester, Farewell, kinsman ; I '11 talk to you 
When you are better temiDcr'd to attend. 
235 Northumberland, Why, what a wasp-stung and 
impatient fool 
Art thou to break into this woman's mood, 
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own ! 
Hotspur, Why, look you, I am whipp'd and 
scourg'd with rods, 
Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear 
240 Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke. 

In Richard's time, — what do you call the place ? — 
A plague upon 't ! — it is in Gloucestershire ; 
'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept. 
His uncle York, — where I first bow'd my knee 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 47 

Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke, — 245 

When you and he came back from fiavenspurg. 

Northumberland, At Berkeley castle. 

Hotspur, You say true. — 
Why, what a candy deal of courtesy 
This fawning greyhound then did proffer me ! 250 
Look, when his infant fortune came to age^ 
And gentle Harry Percy ^ and kind cousin^ — 
O, the devil take such cozeners ! — God forgive me! — 
Good uncle, tell your tale, for I have done. 

Worcester, IS" ay, if you have not, to 't again ; 255 
We ^11 stay your leisure. 

Hotspur, I have done, i' faith. 

Worcester, Then once more to your Scottish pris- 
oners. 
Deliver them up without their ransom straight, 
And make the Douglas' son your only mean 
For powers in Scotland ; which, for divers reasons, 260 
Which I shall send you written, be assured, 
Will easily be granted. You, my lord, 

\_To Northumberland. 
Your son in Scotland being thus employ' d 
Shalt secretly into the bosom creep 
Of that same noble prelate, well belov'd, 265 

The archbishop. 

Hotspur, Of York, is 't not ? 

Worcester, True ; who bears hard 
His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop. 
I speak not this in estimation. 

As what I think might be, but what I know 270 

Is ruminated, plotted, and set down, 
And only stays but to behold the face 
Of that occasion that shall bring it on. 

Hotspur, I smell 't ; upon my life, it will do well. 
Nor thumb eidand. Before the game's afoot, thou 275 
still lett'st slip. 



48 KING HENRY IV. [act i- 

Hotspur, Why, it cannot choose but be a noble 
plot. — 
And then the power of Scotland and of York, — 
To join with Mortimer, ha? 

Worcester, And so they shall. 

Hotspur. In faith, it is exceedingly well aini'd. 
280 Worcester. And 't is no little reason bids us speed, 
To save our heads by raising of a head ; 
For, bear ourselves as even as we can. 
The king will always think him in our debt, 
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied, 
285 Till he hath found a time to pay us home ; 
And see already how he doth begin 
To make us strangers to his looks of love. 
Hotspur. He does, he does ; we '11 be revenged on 

him. 
Worcester. Cousin, farewell. — No farther go in 
this 
290 Than I by letters shall direct your course. 
When time is ripe, which will be suddenly, 
I '11 steal to Glendowerand Lord Mortimer ; 
Where you and Douglas and our powers at once. 
As I will fashion it, shall happily meet, 
295 To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms. 
Which now we hold at much uncertainty. 

Northumberland. Farewell, good brother ; we 

shall thrive, I trust. 
Hotspur. Uncle, adieu ; O, let the hours be short 
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport ! 

\Exeunt. 



sc. I.] KING HENRY IV, 49 

ACT II. 

SCENE. I.— Rochester. An Inn Yard, 

Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand, 

1 Carrier. Heigh-ho ! An 't be not four by the 
day, I '11 be hanged ! Charles' wain is over the 
new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. — 
What, ostler ! 

Ostler, [ Within'] Anon, anon. 5 

1 Carrier, I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put 
a few flocks in the point ; the poor jade is wrung in 
the withers out of all cess. 

Enter another Carrier. 

2 Carrier, Peas and beans are as dank here as a 
dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the 10 
bots ; this house is turned upside down since Robin 
ostler died. 

1 Carrier, Poor fellow ! never joyed since the 
price of oats rose ; it was the death of him. 

2 Carrier, I think this be the most villainous je 
house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like 

a tench. 

1 Carrier, Like a tench ! by the mass, there is 
ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit 
than I have been since the first cock. — What, 20 
ostler ! come away, and be hanged ! come away. 

2 Carrier, I have a gammon of bacon and two 
razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing- 
cross. 

1 Carrier. 'Odsbody, the turkeys in my pannier 25 
are quite starved. — What, ostler ! — A plague on 
thee ! hast thou never an eye in thy head ? canst 



50 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

not hear ? An 't were not as good deed as drink to 
break the pate on thee, I am a very villain. — Come, 
30 and be hanged ! hast no faith in thee ? 

Unter Gadshill. 

GadshilL Good morrow, carriers. What's 
o'clock? 
1 Carrier, I think it be two o'clock. 
GadshilL I prithee, lend me thy lantern, to see 
35 my gelding in the stable. 

1 Carrier, Nay, soft, I pray ye ; I know a trick 
worth two of that, i' faith. 

GadshilL I prithee, lend me thine. 

2 Carrier, Ay, when ? canst tell ? — Lend r)ie thy 
40 lantern^ quoth a' ? — marry, I '11 see thee hang'd 

first. 

GadshilL Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean 
to come to London ? 

2 Carrier, Time enough to go to bed with a 
45 candle, I warrant thee. — Come, neighbor Mugs, 
we '11 call up the gentlemen ; they will along with 
company, for they have great charge. 

[Exeunt Carriers. 

GadshilL What, ho ! chamberlain ! 

Chamberlain, [ Within'] At hand, quoth pick- 
50 purse. 

GadshilL That 's even as fair as — at hand^ quoth 
the chamberlain; for thou variest no more from 
picking of purses than giving direction doth from 
laboring ; thou lay'st the plot how. 

Enter Chamberlain. 

55 Chamberlain. Good morrow. Master GadshilL It 
holds current that I told you yesternight ; there 's 
a franklin in the wild of Kent hath brought three 
hundred marks with him in gold. I heard him tell 



sc. I.] KING HENRY IV. 51 

it to one of his company last night at supper ; a 
kind of auditor ; one that hath abundance of charge 60 
too, — God knows what. They are up already, and 
call for eggs and butter ; they will away presently. 

GadshUL Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint 
Nicholas^ clerks, I '11 give thee this neck. 

Chamberlain. No, I '11 none of it ; I prithee, keep 65 
that for the hangman ; for I know thou worship 'st 
Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may. 

GadshUL Whattalk'st thou tome of the hang- 
man? if I hang, I '11 make a fat pair of gallows ; 
for, if I hang, old Sir John hangs with me, and 70 
thou know'st he is no starveling. Tut ! there are 
other Trojans that thou dream'st not of, the wnich, 
for sport sake, are content to do the profession some 
grace ; that would, if matters should be looked 
into, for their own credit sake make all whole. I 75 
am joined with no foot land-rakers, no long-stafF, 
sixpenny strikers ; none of these mad mustachio, 
purple-hued malt-worms ; but with nobility and 
tranquillity, burgomasters and great oneyers ; such 
as can hold in, such as will strike sooner than 80 
speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink 
sooner than pray : and yet, zounds, I lie ; for they 
pray continually to their saint, the commonwealth : 
or rather, not pray to her, but prey on her ; for 
they ride up and down on her and make her their 85 
boots. 

Chamberlain, What, the commonwealth their 
boots ? will she hold out water in foul way ? 

GadshUL She will, she will ; justice hath liquor' d 
her. We steal as in a castle, cock-sure ; we have 90 
the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible. 

Chamberlain. Nay, by my faith, I think you are 
more beholding to the night than to fern-seed for 
your walking invisible. 



52 KING HENRY IV. [act n. 

95 GadsMlL Give me thy hand ; thou shalt have a 
share in our purchase, as I am a true man. 

Chcanbo^lain. Nay, rather let me have it, as you 
are a false thief. 

GadshilL Go to ; homo is a common name to all 

I GO men. Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the 

stable. Farewell, ye muddy knave. [JExeunt 

SCENE 11.— The Highway/, near GadshilL 
Enter Prince Henry and Poins. 

Poms. Come, shelter, shelter ; I have removed 
FalstafF's horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet. 
Prince, Stand close. 

Enter Falstaff. 

Falstaff. Poins ! Poins, and be hanged ! Poins ! 
5 Prince. Peace, ye fat-kidney' d rascal ! what a 
brawling dost thou keep ! 

Falstaff. Where 's Poins, Hal? 
Prince. He is walked up to the top of the hill ; 
I '11 go seek him. 
lo Falstaff. I am accurs'd to rob in that thief's com- 
pany ; the rascal hath removed my horse, and tied 
him I know not where. If I travel but four foot 
by the squire further afoot, I shall break my wind. 
Well, I doubt not but to die a fair death for all 
15 this, if I 'scape hanging for killing that rogue. I 
have forsworn his company hourly any time this 
two-and-twenty year, and yet I am bewitched with 
the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given 
me medicines to make me love him, I '11 be hanged ; 
20 it could not be else ; I have drunk medicines. — 
Poins ! — Hal ! — a plague upon you both !— Bardolph ! 
Peto ! — I '11 starve ere I '11 rob a foot further. An 't 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV. 53 

were not as good a deed as drink, to turn true man 
and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest vaiiet 
that ever chewed with a tootli. Eight yards of 25 
uneven ground is three-score and ten miles afoot 
with me ; and the stony-hearted villains know it 
well enough. A plague upon it when thieves can 
not be true one to another ! [ Thei/ whistle.'] Whew ! 
— A plague upon you all ! Give me my horse, you 30 
rogues ; give me my horse, and be hang'd ! 

Prince. Peace ! lie down ; lay thine ear close to 
the ground, and list if thou canst hear the tread of 
travelers. 

Falstaff. Have you any levers to lift me up again, 35 
being down ? 'Sblood, I '11 not bear mine own flesh 
so far afoot again for all the coin in thy father's 
exchequer. What a plague mean ye to colt me 
thus? 

Prince. Thou liest ; thou art not colted, thou art 40 
uncolted. 

Falstaff. I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to 
my horse, good king's son. 

Prince. Out, you rogue ! shall I be your ostler ? 

Falstaff. Go, hang thyself in thine own heir-aj)-45 
parent garters ! If I be ta'en, I '11 peach for this. 
An I have not ballads made on you all, and sung 
to filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison ! 
When a jest is so forward, and afoot too, — I hate it. 

Enter GADsmiiL,, Bardolph, and Peto with him. 

Gadshill. Stand. 50 

Falstaff. So I do, against my will. 

Poins. O, 't is our setter; I know his voice. — 
Bardolph, what news ? 

Bardolph. Case ye, case ye ; on with your vizors : 
there 's money of the king's coming down the hill ; 55 
't is going to the king's exchequer. 



54 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

Falstajf, You lie, you rogue ; ^t is going to tlie 
king's tavern. 

Oadshill, There 's enough to make us all. 
60 Falstaff, To be hang'd. 

Prince, You four shall front them in the narrow 
lane ; Ned and I will walk lower : if they 'scape 
from your encounter, then they light on us. 
Peto, How many be there of them ? 
65 Gadshill, Some eight or ten. 

Falstaff, Zounds, will they not rob us ? 
Prince. What, a coward, Sir John Paunch ? 
Falstaff, Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your 
grandfather ; but yet no coward, Hal. 
70 Prince. Well, we leave that to the proof. 

Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the 
hedge ; when thou need'st him, there thou shalt 
find him. Farewell, and stand fast. 
Falstaff. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be 
75 hang' d. 

Prince. Ned, where are our disguises ? 
Poins. Here, hard by ; stand close. 

[Fxeunt Pkince and Poins. 
Falstaff. Now, my masters, happy man be his 
dole, say I ; every man to his business. 

Enter Travelers. 

80 1 Traveler. Come, neighbor : the boy shall lead 
our horses down the hill ; we '11 walk afoot awhile, 
and ease our legs. 
Thieves. Stand ! 
Travelers. Jesu bless us ! 
85 Falstaff o Strike ; down with them ; cut the 
villains' throats. Ah ! caterpillars ! bacon-fed 
knaves ! they hate us youth : down with them ; 
fleece them. 

Travelers. O, we are undone, both we and ours 
90 for ever ! 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV. 55 

Falstaff. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye un- 
done ? No, ye fat chuffs ; I would your store were 
here ! On, bacons, on ! What, ye knaves ! young 
men naust live. You are grand jurors, are ye? 
we '11 jure ye, i' faith. 95 

\_IIere they rob them and hind them. Exeunt, 

Re-enter Prince Henry and Poins. 

Prince, The thieves have bound the true men. 
Now could thou and I rob the theives and go 
merrily to London, it would be argument for a 
week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for 
ever. lo 

Poins, Stand close ; I hear them coming. 

Enter the Thieves again, 

Falstaff, Come, my master, let us share, and then 
to horse before day. An the Prince and Poins be 
not two arrant cowards, there 's no equity stirring ; 
there 's no more valor in that Poins than in a wild- 105 
duck. 
Prince, Your money ! 
Poins. Villains ! 

[^.s they are sharing^ the Prince and Poins 
set upon them ; they all run away (Fai.- 
STAFF after a blow or two)^ leaving the 
booty behind them. 
Prince, Got with much ease. Now merrily to 
horse. no 

The thieves are scattered and possessed with fear 
So strongly that they dare not meet each other ; 
Each takes his fellow for an officer. 
Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death, 
And lards the lean earth as he walks along ; 115 

Were 't not for laughing, I should pity him. 
Poins, How the rogue roar'd ! [Exeunt. 



56 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

SCENE III.— Warkworth Castle. 

Enter Hotspur, reading a letter. 

Hotspur, But^ foronine own part ^ my lord, I could 
be luell contented to be there^ in respect of the love I 
bear your House. He could be contented ! why is 
he not, then ? In respect of the love he bears our 

5 House ! he shows in this, he loves his own barn 
better than he loves our House. Let me see some 
more. The purpose you undertake is dangerous ; — 
why, that's certain : 't is dangerous to take a cold, 
to sleep, to drink ; but I tell you, my lord fool, out 

lo of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. 
The purpose you undertake is dangerous, the friends 
you have named uncertain, the time itself unsor ted, 
andyour whole plot too light for the counterpoise of 
so great an opposition. Say you so, say you so ? I 

1 5 say unto you again, you are a shalloV, cowardly 
hind, and you lie. What a lack-brain is this ! By 
the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid ; 
our friends true and constant : a good plot, good 
friends, and full of expectation ; an excellent plot, 

2o very good friends. What a frosty-spirited rogue is 
this ! Why, my lord of York commends the plot 
and the general course of the action. Zounds ! an 
I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with 
his lady's fan. Is there not my father, my uncle, 

25 and myself? Lord Edmund Mortimer, my Lord of 
York, and Owen Glendower? is there not, besides, 
the Douglas ? have I not all their letters to meet 
me in arms by the ninth of the next month ? and 
are they not some of them set forward already? 

30 What a pagan rascal is this ! an infidel ! Ha ! you 
shall see now, in very sincerity of fear and cold 
heart, will he to the king and lay open all our pro- 
ceedings. O, I could divide myself and go to buf- 



sc. ITT.] KING HENRY IV. b7 

fets, for moving such a dish of skim milk with so 
honorable an a<3tion ! Hang him ! let him tell the 35 
king ; we are X3repared. I will set forward to-night. 

Enter Lady Percy. 

How now, Kate ! I must leave you within these 
two hours. 

Lady Percy, O, my good lord, why are you thus 
alone ? 
For what offence have I this fortnight been 40 

A banished woman from my Harry's side? 
Tell me, sweet lord, what is 't that takes from thee 
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep ? 
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth. 
And start so often when thou.sitt'st alone? 45 

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks, 
And given my treasures and my rights of thee 
To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy? 
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch' d, , 
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars, 50 

Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed, 
Cry Courage ! to the field ! And thou hast talk'd 
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents, 
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets, 
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin, 55 

Of prisoners' ransom and of soldiers slain, 
And all the current of a heady fight. 
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war 
And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep 
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow, 60 
Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream ; 
And in thy face strange motions have appear' d. 
Such as we see when men restrain their breath 
On some great sudden best. O, what portents are 

these? 
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand, 65 



58 KING HENR Y IV. [act ii. 

And I must know it, else lie loves me not. 
Hotspur, What, ho ! 

Enter Servant. 

Is Gilliams with the packet gone ? 
Servant, He is, my lord, an hour ago. 
Hotspur. Hath Butler brought those horses from 
the sheriff? 
70 Servant. One horse, my lord, he brought even 
now. 
Hotspur, What horse? a roan, a crop-ear, is it 

not? 
Servant, It is, my lord. 

Hotspur. That roan shall be my throne. 

Well, I will back him straight. — O esperance !— 
Bid Butler lead him forth into the park. 

[Exit Servant. 
75 Lady Percy. But hear you, my lord. 
Hotspur. What say'st thou, my lady ? 
Lady Percy, What is it carries you away ? 
Hotspur, Why, my horse, my love, my horse. 
Lady Percy, Out, you mad-headed ape ! 
80 A weasel hath not such a deal of s]3leen 
As you are toss'd with. In faith, 
I '11 know your business, Harry, that I will. 
I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir 
About his title, and hath sent for you 
85 To line his enterprise ; but if you go, — 

Hotspur, So far afoot, I shall be weary, love. 
Lady Percy, Come, come, you paraquito, answer 
me 
Directly unto this question that I ask. 
In faith, I '11 break thy little finger, Harry, 
90 An if thou wilt not tell me all things true. 
Hotspur, Away, 
Away, you trifler ! Love ! I love thee not, 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 59 

I care not for thee, Kate ; this is no world 
To play with mamniets and to tilt with lips ; 
We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns, 95 
And pass them current too. — God's me, my horse! — 
What say'st thou, Kate? what would'stthou have 
with me ? 

Lady Percy. Do you not love me ? do you not 
indeed? 
Well, do not, then ; for, since you love me not, 
I will not love myself. Do you not love me ? ico 

Nay, tell me if you speak in jest or no. 

Hotspur. Come, wilt thou see me ride ? 
And when I am o' horseback, I will swear 
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate ; 
.1 must not have you henceforth question me 105 

Whither I go, nor reason whereabout. 
Whither I must, I must ; and, to conclude. 
This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate. 
I know you wise, but yet no further wise 
Than Harry Percy's wife : constant you are, no 

But yet a w^oman : and, for secrecy, 
No lady closer ; for I well believe 
Thou wilt not utter w^hat thou dost not know ; 
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate. 

Lady Percy. How ! so far ? 115 

Hotspur. Not an inch further. But hark you, 
Kate: 
Whither I go, thither shall you go too ; 
To-day will I set forth, to-morrow you. 
Will this content you, Kate? 

Lady Percy. It must of force. [Exeunt. 

SCENE IV. The Boards-Head Tavern, Eastcheap. 

Enter the Prince and Poixs. 
Prince. Ned, prithee, come out of tliat fat room, 
and lend me thy hand to laugh a little. 



60 KING HENRY IV, [act ii. 

Poins, Where hast been, Hal ? 
Prince, With three or four loggerheads, amongst 
5 three or four score hogsheads. I have sounded the 
very base-string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn 
brother to a leash of drawers ; and can call them 
all by their Christian names, as Tom, Dicli, and 
Francis. They take it already upon their salva- 

lotion, that, though I be but Prince of Wales, yet I 
am the king of courtesy ; and tell me flatly I am 
no proud Jack, like FalstafF, but a Corinthian, a 
lad of mettle, a good boy, — by the Lord, so they 
call me ! — and w^hen I am King of England, I shall 

1 5 command all the good lads in Eastcheap. They 
call drinking deep, dyeing scarlet ; and, when you 
breathe in your watering, they cry, hem \ and bid 
you play it otF. To conclude, I am so good a pro- 
ficient in one quarter of an hour, that I can drink 

2o with any tinker in his own language during my 
life. I tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost much honor, 
that thou wert not with me in this action. But, 
sweet Ned, — to sweeten which name of Ned, I 
give thee this pennyworth of sugar, clapped even 

25 now into my hand by an under-skinker, one that 
never spake other English in his life than Eight 
shillings and sixpence^ and You are welcome^ with 
this shrill addition, Anon^ anon^ sir ! Score a pint 
of bastard in the Half-moon^ or so. But, Ned, to 

30 drive away the time till Falstaff come, I prithee do 
thou stand in some by-room, while I question my 
puny drawer to what end he gave me the sugar ; 
and do tliou never leave calling Francis^ that his 
tale to me may be nothing but Anon, Ste]3 aside, 

35 and I '11 show thee a precedent. 
Poins. Francis ! 
Prince, Thou art perfect. 
Poins, Francis ! [Exit Poins. 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 61 

Unter Francis. 

Francis. Anon, anon, sir. — Look down into the 
Pomegranate, Ralph. 40 

Prince. Come hither, Francis. 

Francis. My lord ? 

Prince. How long hast thou to serve, Francis? 

Francis. Forsooth, five years, and as much as to — 

Poins. [ Within'] Francis ! 45 

Francis. Anon, anon, sir. 

Prince. Five year ! by 'r lady, a long lease for the 
clinking of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be 
so valiant as to play the coward with thy indenture, 
and show it a fair pair of heels and run from it ? 50 

Francis. O Lord, sir, I'll be sworn upon all the 
books in England, I could find in my heart — 

Poins. [ Within'] Francis ! 

Francis. Anon, anon, sir. 

Prince. How old art thou, Francis? 55 

Francis, Let me see — about Michaelmas next I 
shall be — 

Poins. [ Within] Francis. 

Francis. Anon, sir. — Pray you, stay a little, my 
lord. 60 

Prince. Nay, but hark you, Francis ; for the su- 
gar thou gavest me, — 'twas a pennyworth, was 't 
not? 

Francis. O Lord, sir, I would it had been two ! 

Prince. I will give thee for it a thousand pound ; 65 
ask me when thou wilt, and thou shalt have it. 

Poins. [ Within] Francis ! 

Francis. Anon, anon. 

Prince. Anon, Francis ? No, Francis ; but to- 
morrow, Francis ; or, Francis, o' Thursday ; or, in- 70 
deed, Francis, when thou wilt. But, Francis, — 

Francis. My lord ? 

Prince. Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crys- 



62 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

tal-button, nott-pated, agate-ring, caddis-garter, 
75 smooth-tongue, Spanish-poucli, — 

Francis, O Lord, sir, wlio do you mean ? 
Prince. Why, tlien, your brown bastard is your 
only drink ; for look you, Francis, your white can- 
vas doublet will sully ; in Barbary, sir, it cannot 
80 come to so much. 

Francis, What, sir? 
Poins. [ Within'] Francis ! 

Prince, Away, you rogue ! dost thou not hear 
them call ? {Here they both call him ; he stands 

aonazed^ not knowing which way 
to go. 

Enter Vintner. 

85 Vintner, What, stand'st thou still, and hear^st 
such a calling ? Look to the guests within. — \_Exit 
Francis.] My lord, old Sir John, with half-a- 
dozen more, are at the door ; shall I let them in ? 
Prince, Let them alone awhile, and then open 

90 the &00J:,— [Exit Vintner.] Poins ! 

Re-enter Poins. 

Poins, Anon, anon, sir. 

Prince, Sirrah, Falstaff, and the rest of the 
thieves are at the door ; shall we be merry ? 

Poins, As merry as crickets, my lad. But hark 
Q r ye ; what cunning match have you made with this 
jest of the draw^er ? come, what ^s the issue ? 

Prince, I am now of all humors that have showed 
themselves humors since the old days of goodman 
Adam to the pupil age of this present twelve o^ clock 
100 at midnight. — 

Re-enter Francis. 

What 's o'clock, Francis? 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 63 

Francis. Anon, anon, sir. [^Exif, 

Prince, That ever this fellow should have fewer 
words than a xoarrot, and yet the son of a woman ! 
His industry is up-stairs and down-stairs ; his elo- 105 
quence the parcel of a reckoning. I am not yet of 
Percy's mind, the Hotspur of the north ; he that 
kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a 
breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his w^ife, 
Fie upon this quiet life ! I want ivork, O my sweet 1 10 
Harry y says she, how many hast thou killed to-day f 
Give my roan horse a drench^ says he ; and answers 
Some fourteen^ an hour after, a trifle^ a trifle, I 
prithee, call in Falstaff ; I '11 play Percy, and that 
brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his wife. Bivo! 1 1 5 
says the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow. 

Enter Falstaff, Gadshill, Bardolph, and 
Peto ; FuA]S[ CIS following with wine, 

Poins, Welcome, Jack, where hast thou been ? 

Falstaff, A plague of all cowards, I say, and a 
vengeance too ! marry, and amen ! — Give me a cup 
of sack, boy.— Ere I lead this life long, I'll sew 120 
nether-stocks and mend them and foot them too. 
A plague of all cowards ! — Give me a cup of sack, 
rogue. — Is there no virtue extant ? [jfe drinks. 

Prince, Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of 
butter? pitiful-hearted butter, that melted at the 125 
sweet tale of the sun ! if thou didst, then behold 
that compound. 

Falstaff, You rogue, here 's lime in this sack too : 
there is nothing but roguery to be found in villain- 
ous man ; yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack 1 30 
with lime in it,^ — a villainous coward ! — Go thy 
ways, old Jack ; die when thou wilt, if manhood, 
good manhood, be not forgot upon the face of the 
earth, then am I a shotten herring. There live not 



64 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

135 three good men unhang'd in England ; and one of 

them is fat and grows old ; God help the while ! a 

bad world, I say. I would I were a weaver ; I 

could sing psalms or anything. A plague of all 

cowards, I say still. 

140 Prince. How now, wool-sack ! w^hat mutter you ? 

Falstaff. A king's son ! If I do not beat thee out 

of thy kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive 

all the subjects afore thee like a flock of wald- 

geese, I '11 never wear hair on my face more. You 

145 Prince of Wales ! 

Prince, Why, you round man, what's the 
matter ? 

Falstaff, Are not you a coward? answer me to 
that, — and Poins there ? 
150 Poins, Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me 
coward, I '11 stab thee. 

Falstaff, I call thee coward ! I '11 seethe hang'd 
ere I call thee coward ; but I w^ould give a thous- 
and pound I could run as fast as thou canst. You 
155 are straight enough in the shoulders, you care not 
who sees your back ; call you that backing of your 
friends ? A plague upon such backing ! give me 
them that will face me. — Give me a cup of sack ; I 
am a rogue, if I drunk to-day. 
1 60 Prince. O villain ! thy lips are scarce wiped since 
thou drunk'st last. 

Falstaff. All's one for that. [He drinks.'] A 
plague of all cowards, still say I. 
Prince. What's the matter? 
165 Falstaff. What 's the matter ! there be four of us 
here have ta'en a thousand pound this day morn- 
ing. 

Prince. Where is it, Jack ? where is it ? 
Falstaff. Where is it ! taken from us it is ; a hun- 
170 dred upon poor four of us. 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 65 

PiHnce, What, a hundred, man? 

Falstaff'. I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword 
with a dozen of them two hours together. I have 
'scaped by miracle. I am eight times thrust 
through the doublet, four through the hose; my i75 
buckler cut through and through ; my sword 
hacked like a hand-saw— eece signurn ! I never 
dealt better since I was a man ; all would not do. 
A plague of all cowards ! - Let them speak ; if they 
speak more or less than truth, they are villains and i8o 
the sons of darkness. 

Prince. Speak, sirs ; how was it ? 

GadshilL We four set upon some dozen — 

Falstaff, Sixteen at least, my lord. 

GadshilL And bound them. 185 

Peto, No, no, they were not bound. 

Falstaff, You rogue, they were bound, every 
man of them ; or I am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew. 

Gadshill, As we were sharing, some six or seven 
fresh men set upon us — 1 80 

Falstaff. And unbound the rest, and then come 
in the other. 

Prince, AAHiat, fought you with them all? 

Falstaff. All ! I know not what you call all ; but 
if I fought not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of 195 
radish : if there were not two or three and fifty 
upon poor old Jack, then am I no two-legged 
creature. 

Prince. Pray God you have not murdered some 
of them. 200 

Fcdstcff. Nay, that 's past praying for : I have 
pepper'd two of them ; two I am'^sure I have paid, 
two rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee what, 
Hal — if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face, call me 
horse — thou knowest my old ward ; here I lay, and 205 
thus I bore my point. Four rogues in buckram let 
drive at me — 



66 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

Prince, What, four? thou saidst but two even 
now. 
2IO FaUtaff, Four, Hal ; I told thee four. 

Poins, Ay, ay, he said four. 

FaUtaff, These four came all a-front, and mainly 
thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took ail 
their seven points in my target, thus. 
2 1 5 Prince, Seven ? why, there were but four even 
now. 

Falstaff, In buckram ? 

Poins. Ay, four, in buckram suits. 

Falstaff, Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain 
220 else. 

Prince, Prithee, let him alone ; we shall have 
more anon. 

Falstaff, Dost thou hear me, Hal ? 

Prince. Ay, and mark thee too. Jack. 
225 Falstaff, Do so, for it is worth the listening to. 
These nine in buckram that I told thee of — 

Prince. So, two more already. 

Falstaff, Their points being broken,— 

Poins, Down fell their hose. 
230 Falstaff, Began to give me ground : but I fol- 
lowed me close, came in foot and hand ; and with 
a thought seven of the eleven I paid. 

Prince, O monstrous ! eleven buckram men 
grown out of two ! 
235 Falstcff, But, as the devil would have it, three 
misbegotten knaves in Kendal green came at my 
back and let drive at me ; — for it was so dark, Hal, 
that thou couldst not see thy hand. 

Prince, These lies are like their father that be- 
240 gets them ; gross as a mountain, open, palpable. 
Why, thou clay-brained, nott-pated fool, thou 
obscene, greasy tallow-keech, — 

Falstaff'. What, art thou mad ? art thou mad ? is 
not the truth the truth ? 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 67 

Prince. Why, how couldst thou know these men 245 
in Kendal green, when it was so dark thou couldst 
not see thy hand ? come, tell us your reason ; what 
say^st thou to this ? 

Poins, Come, your reason, Jack, your reason. 

Falstaff, What, upon compulsion? Zounds, an 1 250 
were at the strappado, or all the racks in the world, 
1 would not tell you on compulsion. Give you a 
reason on compulsion ! if reasons were as i^lenty as 
blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon 
compulsion, I. 255 

Prince. I '11 be no longer guilty of this sin ; this 
sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horseback- 
breaker, this huge hill of flesh, — 

Falsiaff. 'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, 
you dried neat's tongue, you stock-fish. — O for 260 
breath to utter what is like thee!— you tailor's 
yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing- 
tuck, — 

Prince. Well, breathe awhile, and then to it 
again ; and when thou hast tired thyself in base 265 
com]Darisons, hear me speak but this. 

Poins. Mark, Jack. 

Prince. We two saw you four set on four ; you 
bound them, and were masters of their wealth. 
Mark how, now a plain tale shall put you down. 270 
Then did w^e two set on you four ; and, w^ith a 
word, out-faced you from your prize, and have it ; 
yea, and can show it you here in the house : and 
FalstafF, you carried yourself away as nimbly, with 
as quick dexterity, and roar'd for mercy and still 275 
run and roar'd, as ever I heard bull-calf. What a 
slave art thou, to hack thy sword as thou hast done, 
and then say it was in fight ! What trick, what 
device, what starting-hole, canst tliou now find out 
to hide thee from this open and ai)parent shame ? 280 



68 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

Poins, Come, let 's hear, Jack ; what trick hast 
thou now ? 

Falstaff, By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he 
that made ye. Why, hear ye, my masters ; was it 

285 for me to kill the heir-apparent? should I turn 
upon the true prince ? why, thou knowest I am as 
valiant as Hercules : but beware instinct ; the lion 
will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great 
matter ; I was now a coward on instinct. I shall 

290 think the better of myself and thee during my 
life ; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. 
But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the 
money. — Hostess, clap-to the doors ; watch to- 
night, pray to-morrow. — Gallants, lads, boys, hearts 

300 of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to 
youl What, shall we be merry? shall we have a 
play extempore ? 

Prince. Content ; and the argument shall be thy 
running away. 

305 Falstaff, Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest 
me. 

Enter Hostess. 

Hostess. O, my lord the prince ! 

Prince. How now, my lady the hostess ! what 
say'st thou to me ? 
310 Hostess. Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of 
the court at door would speak with you ; he says 
he comes from your father. 

Prince. Give him as much as will make him a 
loyal man, and send him back again to my mother. 
315 Falstaff. What manner of a man is he ? 

Hostess. An old man. 

Falstaff. What doth gravity out of his bed at 
midnight ? — Shall I give him his answer ? 

Prince. Prithee, do, Jack. 



sc. IV ] KING HENR Y IV. 6d 

Falstaff, Faith, and I '11 send him packing. 320 

Prince, Now, sirs : by ^r lady, you fought fair ; 
— so did you, Peto ;— so did you, Bardolph : you 
are lions too, you ran away upon instinct, you will 
not touch the true prince ; no, fie ! 

Bardolph, Faith, I ran when I saw others run. 325 

Prince, Tell me now in earnest, how came Fal- 
statPs sword so hacked? 

Peto, Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and 
said he would swear truth out of England, but he 
would make you believe it was done in fight ; and 330 
persuaded us to do the like. 

Bardolph, Yea, and to tickle our noses with 
spear-grass to make them bleed, and then to be- 
slubber our garments with it and swear it was the 
blood of true men. I did that I did not this seven 335 
year before, I blush' d to hear his monstrous de- 
vices. 

Prince, O villain thou stolest a cup of sack eigh- 
teen years ago, and wert taken with the manner, 
and ever since thou hast blushed extempore. Thou 340 
hadst fire and sword on thy side, and yet thou 
rann'st away ; what instinct hadst thou for it? 

Bardolph, My lord, do you see these meteors? 
do you behold these exhalations ? 

Prince, I do. 345 

Bardolph. What think you they portend ? 

Prince, Hot livers and cold purses. 

Bardolph, Choler, my lord, if rightly taken. 

Prince, No, if rightly taken, halter. 

Re-enter Falstaff. 

Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. — How 350 
now, my sweet creature of bombast ! How long is 't 
ago, Jack, since thou saw'st thine own knee? 



70 KING HENRY IV. [act n. 

FaUtajf, My own knee ! when I was about thy 
years, Hal, I was not an eagle's talon in the waist ; 
355 I could have cre^^t into any alderman's thumb- 
ring : a plague of sighing and grief ! it blows a man 
up like a bladder. There's villainous news abroad : 
here w^as Sir John Braey from your father ; you 
must to the court in the morning. That same mad 
360 fellow of the north, Percy, and he of Wales, that 
gave Amaimon the bastinado, and swore the devil 
his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh hook — 
what a plague call you him ? 
Poins, O, Glendower. 
365 Falstaff, Owen, Owen, the same ; and his son-in- 
law Mortimer, and old Northumberland, and that 
sprightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horse- 
back up a hill perpendicular, — 
Prince. He that rides at high speed, and with his 
370 pistol kills a sparrow flying. 
Falstaff. You have hit it. 
Prince. So did he never the sparrow. 
Falstaff. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in 
him ; he will not run. 
375 Prince. W^hy, what a rascal art thou then to 
praise him so for running ! 

Falstaff. O' horseback, ye cuckoo ; but afoot he 
will not budge a foot. 
Prince. Yes, Jack, upon instinct. 
380 Falstaff. I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is 
there too, and one Mordake, and a thousand blue- 
caps more. Worcester is stolen away to-night ; thy 
father's beard is turned white w^ith'the news : you 
may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel. 
385— But tell me, Hal, art not thou horribly afeard ? 
thou being heir-apparent, could the world pick thee 
out three such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, 
that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower ? Art 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 71 

thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill 
at it ? 390 

Prince, Not a whit, i' faith ; I lack some of thy 
instinct. 

Falstaff. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to- 
morrow when thou comest to thy father ; if thou 
love me, practice an answer. 395 

Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and exam- 
ine me upon the x)articulars of "my life. 

Falstaff, Shall I ? content ; this chair shall be 
my state, this dagger my scepter, and this cushion 
my crown. 400 

Prince. The state is taken for a joint-stool, thy 
golden scepter for a leaden dagger, and thy precious 
rich crown for a pitiful bald crown. 

Falstaff. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite 
out of thee, now shalt thou be moved. — Give me a 405 
cuj) of sack to make my eyes look red, that it may 
be thought I have wept ; for I must speak in pas- 
sion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein. 

Prince. Well, here is my leg. 

Falstaff. And here is my speech. — Stand aside, 410 
nobility. 

Hostess. This is excellent s]3ort, i' faith ! 

Falstaff. Weep not, sweet queen, for trickling 
tears are vain. 

Hostess. O, the father, how he holds his counte-415 
nance ! 

Falstaff. For God's sake, lords, convey my trist- 
ful queen ; 
For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes. 

Hostess. O, he doth it as like one of these harlotry 420 
players as ever I see ! 

Falstaff\ Peace, good pint-pot ; peace, good tickle- 
brain.— Harry, I do not only marvel where thou 
spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompa- 



72 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

425 nied : for, though the camomile, the more it is trod- 
den on the faster it grows ; yet youth, the more it 
is wasted the sooner it wears. Tliat thou art my 
son, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my 
own opinion ; but chiefly a villainous trick of thine 

430 eye and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that 
doth warrant me. If then thou be son to me, here 
lies the point ; w^hy, being son to me, art thou so 
pointed at ? Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove 
a micher and eat blackberries? — a question not to 

435 be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief 
and take purses ? — a question to be asked. There 
is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, 
and it is known to many in our land by the name 
of pitch : this pitch, as ancient w^riters do report, 

440 doth defile ; so doth the company thou keepest : 
for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink but 
in tears, not in pleasure but in passion, not in 
words only but in woes also: and yet there is a 
virtuous man whom I have often noted in thy com- 

445 pany, but I know not his name. 

Prince. What manner of man, an it like your 
majesty? 

Falstaff. A goodly, portly man, i' faith, and a 
corpulent ; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a 

450 most noble carriage ; and, as I think, his age some 
fifty, or, by 'r lady, inclining to three score ; and 
now I remember me, his name is FalstatF: if that 
man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me ; for, 
Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree 

455 may be known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, 
then, peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that 
Falstati ; him keep with, the rest banish. And tell 
me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me where hast 
thou been this month ? 

460 Prince. Dost thou speak like a king ? Do thou 
stand for me, and I '11 play my father. 



sc. IV ] KING HENRY IV. 73 

Falstajf. Depose me? if thou dost it half so 
gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, 
hang ]iie up by the heels for a rabbit-sueker or a 
poulter\s hare. 465 

Prince, Well, here I am set. 

Falstaff. And here I stand. — Judge, my masters. 

Prince. Now, Harry, whence come you? 

Falstaff. My noble lord, from Eastcheap. 

Prince. The complaints I hear of thee are griev- 470 
ous. 

Falstcff, 'Sblood, my lord, they are false ;-nay 
I '11 tickle ye for a young prince, i' faith. 

Prince, Swearest thou, ungracious boy? hence- 
forth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried 475 
away from grace : there is a devil haunts thee in 
the likeness of a fat old man ; a tun of man is thy 
companion. Why dost thou converse with that 
trunk of humors, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, 
that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard 4^0 
of sack, that roasted Manningtree ox, that reverend 
vice, that gray iniquity, that father ruflflan, that 
vanity in years ? Wherein is he good, but to taste 
sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but 
to carve a capon and eat it? w^herein cunning, but 4^5 
in craft ? wherein crafty, but in villainy ? w^herein 
villainous, but in all things ? w^herein worthy, but 
in nothing? 

Falstaff. I would your grace would take me with 
you ; whom means your grace ? 49^ 

Prince. That villainous, abominable misleader of 
youth, Falstatr, that old, white-bearded Satan. 

Falstaff. My lord, the man I know- 

Prince. I know thou dost. 

Falstaff. But to say I know more harm in him 495 
than in myself, were to say more than I know. 
That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs 



74 KING HENRY IV. [act ii. 

do witness it. If sack and sugar be a fault, God 
help the wicked ! if to be old and merry be a sin, 

500 then many an old host that I know is ' lost ;' if to 
be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine are 
to be loved. Xo, my good lord : banish Peto, ban- 
ish Bardolph, banish Poins ; but for sweet Jack 
Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack FalstatT, 

505 valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, 
being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him 
thy Harry's company, banish not thy Harry's 
company T banish plump Jack, and banish all the 
world. 

510 Prince, I do, I will. \_A knocking is heard, 

\_Exeunt Hostess, Fkancis, and Bardolph. 

Re-enter BardoIiPH, running, 

Bardolph, O, my lord, my lord ! the sheriff with 
a most monstrous watch is at the door. 

Falstaff, Out, ye rogue ! Play out the play ; I 
have much to say in the behalf of that Falstaff. 

Re-enter the Hostess. 

515 Hostess. O, my lord, my lord !— 

Prince, Heigh, Heigh ! the devil rides upon a 
fiddlestick. "What 's the matter? 

Hostess, The sheriff and all the watch are at the 
door ; they are come to search the house. Shall I 
5 20 let them in? 

Falstaff, Dost thou hear, Hal ? never call a true 
piece of gold a counterfeit ; thou art essentially 
mad, without seeming so. 
Prince, And thou a natural coward, without in- 
r2c stinct. 

Falstaff, I deny your major. If you will deny 
the sheriff, so ; if not, let him enter : if I become 
not a cart as well as another man, a plague on my 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 75 

bringing U];) ! I hope I shall as soon be strangled 
with a halter as another. 530 

Prince, Go, hide thee behind the arras; — the rest 
walk up above. — Now, my masters, for a true face 
and good conscience. 

Falstaff, Both which I have had ; but their date 
is out, and therefore I '11 hide me. 535 

Prince, Call in the sheriff. — 

[Exeunt all except the Pkince and Peto. 

Enter Sheriff and the Carrier. 

Now, master sheriff, what is your will with me? 

Sheriff, First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and 
cry 
Hath followed certain men unto this house. 

Prince, What men ? 54o 

Slier iff. One of them is well known, my gracious 
lord, 
A gross fat man. 

Carrier, As fat as butter. 

Prince. The man, I do assure you, is not here ; 
For I myself at this time have employed him. 
And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee 545 

That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time. 
Send him to answer thee, or any man, 
For anything he shall be charg'^'d withal ; 
And so let me entreat you leave the house. 

Sheriff, I will, my lord. There are two gentle- 550 
men 
H ave in this robbery lost three hundred marks. 

Prince. It may be so : if he have robb'd these 
menj^ 
He shall be answerable ; and so farewell. 

Sheriff\ Good night, my noble lord. 

Prince. I think it is good morrow, is it not ? 555 

Sheriff, Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock. 
\^Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier. 



76 KING HENEY IV. [act ii. 

Prince. This oily rascal is known as well as 
Paul's. Go, call him forth. 
560 Peto. FalstafF ! — Fast asleep behind the arras, and 
snorting like a horse. 

Prince, Hark, how hard he fetches breath. 
Search his pockets. \^He searcheth his pockets.'] 
What hast thou found ? 
565 Peto. Nothing but papers, my lord. 

Prince. Let 's see what they be ; read them. 
Peto. [^Beads'] f Item^ A capon^ . . 2s. 2c?. 
ItcTn^ Sauee^ . . 4rf. 

Item^ Sack ^ two gallons^ . 5s. 8d. 
570 IteTTiy Anchovies and sack 

after supper ^ . . 2s. 6d. 
I Item, Bread, . . oh. 

Prince. O monstrous ! but one half-pennyworth 
of bread to this intolerable deal of sack ! What 
575 there is else, keep close ; we '11 read it at more ad- 
vantage. There let him sleep till day. I '11 to the 
court in the morning. We must all to the wars, 
and thy place shall be honorable. I '11 procure this 
fat rogue a charge of foot ; and I know his death 
580 w^ill be a march of twelve-score. The money shall 
be paid back again with advantage. Be with me 
betimes in the morning , and so, good morrow, 
Peto. [Exeunt. 

Peto. Good morrow, good my lord. 



sc. I.] KING HENRY IV. 77 

ACT III. 

Scene I. Bangor. The Archdeacon^ h House, 

Enter Hotspuk, Wokcester, Mortimer, and 
Glexdower. 

Mortimer. These promises are fair, the parties 
sure. 
And our induction full of prosperous hope. 

Hotsjmr. Lord Mortimer, and cousin Glendower, 
Will you sit down ? — 

And uncle Worcester. — A plague upon it ! 5 

I have forgot the map. 

Glendower. No, here it is. 

Sit, cousin Perc}^ ; sit, good cousin Hotsi^ur, — 
For by that name as oft as Lancaster 
Doth sj)eak of you, his cheek looks pale, and with 
A rising sigh he wisheth you in heaven. 10 

Hotsjjur. And you in hell, as oft as he hears 
Owen Glendower spoke of. 

Glendower, I cannot blame him ; at my nativity 
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes, 
Of burning cressets ; and at my birth 1 5 

The frame and huge foundation of the earth 
Shak'd like a coward. 

Hotspur. Why, so it would have done at the 
same season, if your mother's cat had but kittened, 
though yourself had never been born. 20 

Glendower. I say the earth did shake when I 
was born. 

Hotspur, And I say the earth was not of my 
mind, 
If you suppose as fearing you it shook. 

Glendower, The heavens were all on fire, the 
earth did tremble. 



78 KING HENRY IV. [act hi. 

25 Hotsjmr. O, then the earth shook to see the 
heavens on fire, 
And not hi fear of your nativity. 
Diseased nature oftentimes breal^s forth 
In strange eruptions ; oft the teeming earth 
Is with a kind of colic pinch' d and vex'd 
30 By the imiDrisoning of unruly wind 

Within her womb ; which, for enlargement striv- 
ing, 
Shakes the old beldam earth, and topples down 
Steeples and moss-grown towers. At your birth 
Our grandam earth, having this distemi^erature, 
35 In passion shook. 

Glendowcr. Cousin, of many men 

I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave 
To tell you, once again, that at my birth 
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes. 
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds 
40 Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields. 
These signs have marked me extraordinary 
And all the courses of my life do show 
I am not in the roll of common men. 
Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea 
45 That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, 
Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me ? 
And bring him out that is but woman's son 
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art 
And hold me pace in deep experiments. 
50 Hotspur. I think there's no man speaks better 
Welsh. 
I '11 to dinner. 
Mortimer. Peace, cou-sin Percy ; you will make 

him mad. 
Glendoiver. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. 
HotsjJi/r. Why, so can I, or so can any man ; 
55 But will they come when you do call for them? 



sc. I.] KING HENB Y IV. 79 

Glendower, Why, I can teach thee, cousin, to 
command 
The devil. 
Hotspur. And I can teach thee, coz, to shame 
the devil 
By telling truth ; tell truth, and shame the devil. 
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, 60 
And I '11 be sworn I ' ve power to shame him hence. 
O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil ! 
Mortimer. Come, come, no more of this unprofit- 
able chat. 
Glendower. Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke 
made head 
Against my i)ower ; thrice from the banks of Wye 65 
And sandy-bottom' d Severn have I sent him 
Bootless home and weather-beaten back. 
Hotspur. Home without boots, and in foul 
weather too ! 
How 'scapes he agues, in the devil's name? 

Glendower. Come, here 's the map ; shall we di- 
vide our right 70 
According to our threefold order ta'en? 

Mortimer. The archdeacon hath divided it 
Into three limits very equally. 
England, from Trent and Severn hitherto, 
By south and east is to my part assign 'd ; 75 

All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore, 
And all the fertile land within that bound. 
To Owen Glendower ; and, dear coz, to you 
The remnant northward, lying ofli'from Trent. 
And our indentures tripartite are drawn ; 80 

Which being sealed interchangeably, 
A business that this night may execute. 
To-morrow, cousin Percy, you and I 
And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth 
To meet your father and the Scottish power, 85 



80 KING HENRY IV, [act hi. 

As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury. 
My father Glendower is not ready yet, 
Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days. — 

[To Glendower. 
Within that space you may have drawn together 
90 Your tenants, friends, and neighboring gentlemen. 
Glendower. A shorter time shall send me to you, 
lords ; 
And in my conduct shall your ladies come ; 
From whom you now must steal and takenoleave, 
For there w^ill be a world of water shed 
95 Upon the parting of your waives and you. 

Hotspur. Methinks my moiety, north from Bur- 
ton here, 
In quantity equals not one of yours. 
See how this river comes me cranking in, 
And cuts me from the best of all my land 
100 A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out. 
I '11 have the current in this place damm'd up ; 
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run 
In a new channel, fair and evenly ; 
It shall not wind with such a deep indent 
105 To rob me of so rich a bottom here. 

Glendower. Not wind? it shall, it must; you see 

it doth. 
Mortimer. Yea, but mark how he bears his course, 
and runs me up 
With like advantage on the other side ; 
Gelding th' opposed continent as much 
no As on the other side it takes from you. 

Worcester. Yea, but a little change will trench 
him here, 
And on this north side win this cape of land ; 
And then he runneth straight and even. 
Hotspur. V 11 have it so; a little change will do it. 
115 Glendower. I will not hsive it SilteY^d. 



SCI.] KING HENRY IV. 81 

Hotspur, Will not you ? 

Glendower. No, nor you shall not. 

Hotspur, Who shall say me nay ? 

Glendower, Why, that will I. 

Hotspur, Let me not understand you, then ; 
speak it in Welsh. 

Glendower. I can speak English, lord, as well as 
you; 
For I was trained up in the English court ; 120 

Where, being but young, I framed to the harp 
Many an English ditty lovely w^ell. 
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament, 
A virtue that was never seen in you. 

Hotspur, Marry, and I am glad of it with all my 
heart, 125 

I ^d rather be a kitten and cry mew 
Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers ; 
I 'd rather hear a brazen canstick turned, 
Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree ; 
And that would set my teeth nothing on edge, 1 30 
Nothing so much as mincing poetry. 
'T is like the forc'd gait of a shuffling nag. 

Glendower, Come, you shall have Trent turned. 

Hotspur. I do not care ; I '11 give thrice so much 
land 135 

To any well-deserving friend ; 
But in the way of bargain, mark ye me, 
I '11 cavil on the ninth part of a hair. 
Are the indentures drawn ? shall we be gone ? 

Glendower, The moon shines fair ; you may 
away by night. 140 

I '11 haste the writer, and withal 
Break with your wives of your departure hence ; 
I am afraid my daughter will run mad. 
So much she doteth on her ^Mortimer. [Exit, 

Mortimer, Fie, cousin Percy ! how you cross my 145 
Mher ! 



82 KING HENRY IV, [act hi. 

Hotspur, I cannot choose ; sometime he angers- 
me 
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, 
Of th' dreamer Merlin and his prophecies, 
And of a dragon and a finless fish, 

150 A clip-wing' d griffin and a moulten raven, 
A couching lion and a ramping cat, 
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff 
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what, 
He held me last night at the least nine hours 

15$ In reckoning up the several devils' names 

That were his lackeys ; I cried huiii^ and to ell, go to^ 
But marked him not a word. O, he 's as tedious 
As is a tirfed horse, a railing wife ; 
Worse than a smoky house ; I'd rather live 

160 With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far. 
Than feed on cates and have him talk to me 
In any summer-house in Christendom. 

Mortimer, In faith, he is a worthy gentleman, 
Exceedingly well read, and profited 

165 In strange concealments ; valiant as a lion, 
And wondrous afikble, and as bountiful 
As mines of India. Shall I tell 3^ou, cousin ? 
He holds your temper in a high respect. 
And curbs himself even of his natural scope 

170 When you do cross his humor ; faith, he does. 
I warrant you, that man is not alive 
Might so have tempted him as you have done. 
Without the taste of danger and reproof ; 
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you. 

Worcester, In faith, my lord, you are toowillful- 

175 blame ; 

And, since your coming hither, have done enough 
To put him quite beside his patience. 
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault. 
Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, 
blood, — 



sc. I.] KING HENRY IK 83 

And that's the dearest grace it renders you, — i8o 

Yet oftentimes it doth present harsli rage, 
Defect of manners, want of government. 
Pride, liaughtiness, opinion, and disdain ; 
The least of which, haunting a nobleman, 
Loseth men's hearts, and leaves behind a stain 185 
Upon the beauty of all parts besides, 
Beguiling them of commendation. 
Hotspur, Well, I am school' d ; good manners be 
your speed ! 
Here come our wives, and let us take our leave. 

Re-eiiter Glendower with the ladies, 

Mortimer, This is the deadly spite that angers 
me, 190 

My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh. 

Glendower, My daughter weeps ; she will not 
part with you ; 
She '11 be a soldier too, she '11 to the wars. 
Mortimer, Good father, tell her that she and my 
aunt Percy 
Shall follow in your conduct speedily. 195 

[^Glendoiuer speaks to her in Welsh^ 
she answers him in the same. 
Glendower, She 's desperate here ; a peevish self- 
willed harlotry. 
One that no persuasion can do good 'pon. 

\_The lady speaks in Welsh, 
Mortimer, I understand thy looks ; that prettv 
Welsh 
Which thou pour'st down from these swelling 

heavens 
I am too perfect in ; and, but for shame, 200 

In such a parley should I answer thee. 

[^The lady sj^eaks again in Welsh. 
I understand thy kisses and thou mine, 



84 KING HENRY IV. [act in. 

And that 's a feeling disputation ; 
But I will never be a truant, love, 
205 Till I have learn' d thy language ; for thy tongue 
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd, 
Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower, 
With ravishing division, to her lute. 

Glendower. Nay, if you melt, then will she run 
mad. [ The lady speaks again in Welsh, 

210 Mortimer. O, I am ignorance itself in this ! 

Glendower. She bids you on the wanton rushes 
lay you down 
And rest your gentle head upon her lap. 
And she will sing the song that pleaseth you 
And on your eyelids crown the god of sleep, 
2 1 5 Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness, 
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep 
As is the difference 'twixt day and night, 
The hour before the heavenly-harness 'd team 
Begins his golden progress in the east. 
Mortimer. With all my heart I '11 sit and hear 
220 her sing ; 

By that time will our book, I think, be drawn. 

Glendower. Do so ; 
And those musicians that shall play to you 
Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence, 
225 And straight they shall be here ; sit, and attend. 
Hotspur. Come, Kate, come, quick, quick, that I 
may lay my head in thy lap. 
Lady Percy. Go, ye giddy goose. 

[ The music plays. 
Hotspur. Now I perceive the devil understands 
Welsh ; 
230 And 't is no marvel he 's so humorous. 
By ^r lady, he 's a good musician. 

Lady Percy. Then should you be nothing but 
musical, for you are altogether governed by 



SCI.] KING HENRY IV. 85 

humors. Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady sing 
in Welsh. 235 

Hotspur. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, 
howl in Irish. 

Lady Percy, Wouldst thou have thy head 
broken ? 

Hotspur, No. 240 

Lady Percy. Then be still. 

Hotspur, Neither ; 't is a woman ^s fault. 

Lady Percy. Now God help thee ! 

Hotspur, Peace ! she sings. 

[Here the lady sings a Welsh song. 

Hotspur, Come, Kate, I '11 have your song too. 245 

Lady Percy, Not mine, in good sooth. 

Hotspur, Not yours, in good sooth ! Heart ! you 
swear like a comfit-maker's wife. Not you^ in good 
soothj and as true as I live^ and as God shall mend 
me, and as sure as day, 250 

And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths, 
As if thou ne'er walk'dst farther than Finsbury. 
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art, 
A good mouth-filling oath, and leave in sooth^ 
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread, 255 

To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens. 
Come, sing. 

Lady Percy. I will not sing. 

Hotspur, 'T is the next way to turn tailor, or be 
red-breast teacher. An the indentures be drawn, 
I '11 away within these two hours, and so, come in 260 
when ye will. [LJxit. 

Qlendower, Come, come. Lord Mortimer ; you 
are as slow 
As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go. 
By this our book's drawn ; we '11 but seal, and then 
To horse immediately. 

Mortimer, With all my heart. {^Exeunt, 265 



86 KTNG HENRY IV. [act iii. 

SCENE 11,— London. The Palace. 

Enter the King, Prince of Wales, and others. 

King, Lords, give us leave ; the Prince of Wales 
and I 
Must have some private conference : but be near at 

hand, 
For we shall presently have need of you. — 

[ijxeunt Lords. 
I know not whether God will have it so, 
5 For some displeasing service I have done, 
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood 
He '11 breed revengement and a scourge for me ; 
But thou dost, in thy passages of life. 
Make me believe that thou art only marked 
lo For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven 
To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else. 
Could such inordinate and low desires. 
Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean at- 
tempts. 
Such barren pleasures, rude society, 
15 As thou art matched withal and grafted to, 
Accompany the greatness of thy blood 
And hold their level with thy princely heart ? 

Prince, So please your majesty, I would I could 
Quit all offences with as clear excuse 
20 As well as I am doubtless I can purge 
Myself of many I am charg'd withal ; 
Yet such extenuation let me beg. 
As, in reproof of many tales devis'd, — 
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear, — 
25 By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers, 
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth 
Hath faulty w^ander'd and irregular. 
Find pardon on my true submission. 
King, God pardon thee ! yet let me wonder, 
Harry 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV. 87 

At thy affections, which do. hold a wing 30 

Quite* from the flglit of all thy ancestors. 

Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost, 

Which by thy younger brother is supx)lied, 

And art almost an alien to the hearts 

Of all the court and princes of my blood. 35 

The hope and exx)ectation of thy time 

Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man 

Prophetically does forethink thy fall. 

Had I so lavish of my presence been, 

So common-hackney 'd in the eyes of men, 40 

So stale and cheap to vulgar company, 

Opinion, that did help me to the crown, 

Had still kept loyal to possession 

And left me in reputeless banishment, 

A fellow of no mark nor likelihood. 45 

By being seldom seen, I could not stir 

But, like a comet, I was wonder' d at ; 

That men would tell their children. This is he; 

Others would say, Where^ which is Bolingbroke f 

And then I stole all courtesy from heaven, 50 

And dress 'd myself in such humility 

That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, 

Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths. 

Even in the presence of the crowned king. 

Thus did I keep my person fresh and new ; 55 

My presence, like a robe pontifical. 

Ne'er seen but wonder' d at : and so my state. 

Seldom, but sumj)tuous, showed like a feast, 

And won by rareness such solemnity. 

The skipping king, he ambled up and down 60 

With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits. 

Soon kindled and soon burnt ; carded his state, 

Mingled his royalty with carping fools. 

Had his great name profaned with their scorns, 

And gave his countenance, against his name, 65 



88 KING HENRY IV. [act m. 

To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push 
Of every beardless vain comparative ; 
Grew a companion to the common streets, 
EnfeotTd himself to popularity ; 

70 That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes. 
They surfeited with honey, and began 
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little 
More than a little is by much too much. 
So, when he had occasion to be seen, 

75 He was but as the cuckoo is in June, 

Heard, not regarded ; seen, but with such eyes 
As, sick and blunted with community, 
Atford no extraordinary gaze. 
Such as is bent on sun-like majesty 

80 When it shines seldom in admiring eyes ; 

But rather drows'd and hung their eyelids down, 
Slept in his face, and rendered such aspect 
As cloudy men use to their adversaries. 
Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd, and full. 

85 And in that very line, Harry, stand'st thou ; 
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege 
With vile participation : not an eye 
But is a-weary of thy common sight. 
Save mine, which hath desir'd to see thee more ; 

90 Which now doth that I would not have it do, 
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness. 
Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious 
lord. 
Be more myself. 

King. For all the world 

As thou art to this hour was Richard then 

95 When I from France set foot at Bavenspurg, 
And e'en as I was then is Percy now. 
Now, by my scepter and my soul to boot, 
He hath more worthy interest to the state 
Than thou, the shadow of succession ; 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV, 89 

For of no right, nor color like to right, loo 

He doth fill lields with harness in the realm, 

Turns head against the lion's arniM jaws, 

And, being no more in debt to years than thou. 

Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on 

To bloody battles and to bruising arms. 105 

What never-dying honor hath he got 

Against renowned Douglas ! whose high deeds. 

Whose hot incursions, and great name in arms 

Holds from all soldiers chief majority 

And military title capital 1 10 

Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge 

Christ. 
Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathing clothes. 
This infant warrior, in his enterprises 
Discomfited great Douglas ; ta'en him once. 
Enlarged him and made a friend of him 1 1 5 

To fill the mouth of deep defiance up 
And shake the peace and safety of our throne. 
And what say you to this ? Percy, Northumber- 
land, 
The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Morti- 
mer 
Capitulate against us and are up. 120 

But wherefore do I tell these news to thee? 
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes. 
Which art my near'st and dearest enemy ? 
Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear. 
Base inclination, and the start of spleen, 125 

To fight against me under Percy's pay. 
To dog his heels and court' sy at his frowns, 
To show how much thou art degenerate. 

Prince, Do not think so ; you shall not find it so ; 
And God forgive them that so nmch have sway'd ^S^ 
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me ! 
I will redeem all this on Percy's head, 



90 KING HENRY IV, [act iii. 

And, in the closing of some glorious day, 
Be bold to tell you that 1 am your son ; 

135 When I will wear a garment all of blood 
And stain my favor in a bloody mask, 
Which, wash'daway, shall scour my shame with it. 
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights, 
That this same child of honor and renown, 

140 This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight. 
And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet. 
For every honor sitting on his helm. 
Would they were multitudes, and on my head 
My shames redoubled ! for the time will come, 

145 That I shall make this northern youth exchange 
His glorious deeds for my indignities. 
Percy is but my factor, good my lord, 
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf ; 
And I will call him to so strict account 

150 That he shall render every glory up. 

Yea, even the slightest worship of his time, 
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart. 
This, in the name of God, I promise here ; 
The which if He be pleased I shall perform, 

1 55 I do beseech your majesty, may salve 

The long-grown wounds of my intemperance : 
If not, the end of life cancels all bands ; 
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths 
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow. 

1 60 King, A hundred thousand rebels die in this ! 
Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein. 

Enter Blunt. 

How now, good Blunt ? thy looks are full of speed. 
Blunt, So hath the business that I come to speak 
of. 
Lord Mortimer of Scotland has sent word 
165 That Douglas and the English rebels met 



sc. m.] KIXG HENRY IV. 91 

Th' eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury. 
A mighty and a fearful head they are, 
If promises be kept on every hand, 
As ever offered foul play in a state. 

King, The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day, 1 70 
With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster ; 
For this advertisement is five days old. — 
On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward; 
On Thursday w^e ourselves will march : our meet- 
ing 
Is Bridgenorth ; and, Harry, you shall march 175 

Through Gloucestershire ; by which account, 
Our business valued, some twelve days hence 
Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet. 
Our hands are full of business : let's away ; 
Advantage feeds him fat while men delay. 180 

l^Exeunt, 

SCENE III. Eastcheap, The Boar's-Head 
Tavern, 

Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. 

Falstaff. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely 
since this last action? do I not bate? do I not 
dwindle ? Why, my skin hangs about me like an 
old lady's loose gown ; I am withered like an old 
apple-john. Well, I '11 repent, and that suddenly, 5 
while I am in some liking ; I shall be out of heart 
shortly, and then I shall have no strength to rei^ent. 
An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church 
is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse. 
The inside of a church ! Company, villainous com- 10 
pany, hath been the spoil of me. 

Bardolj^h. Sir John, you are so fretful you can 
not live long. 

Fahtaff, Why, there is it : come sing me a song; 



92 KING HENRY IV. [act hi. 

1 5 make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a 
gentleman need to be, virtuous enough ; swore 
little ; diced not above seven times a week ; paid 
money that I borrowed, three or four times ; lived 
well and in good compass : and now I live out of 

20 all order, out of all compass. 

Bardolph, Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that 
you must needs be out of all compass ; out of all 
reasonable compass. 
Falstaff, Do thou amend thy face, and I '11 

25 amend my life. Thou art our admiral, thou bear- 
est the lantern in the poop, — but 'tis in the nose of 
thee ; thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp. 

Bardolph, Why, Sir John, my face does you no 
harm. 

30 Falstaff. No, I '11 be sworn ; I make as good use 
of it as many a man doth of a death's-head or a 
meraento mori. I never see thy face but I think 
upon hell-fire, and Dives that lived in purple ; for 
there he is in his robes, burning, burning. 

35 If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would 
swear by thy face ; my oath should be, Bi/ thisflre^ 
that ^s God\s angel : but thou art altogether given 
over, and wert indeed, but for the light in thy face, 
the son of utter darkness. When thou rann'st up 

40 Gadshill in the night to catch my horse, if I did 
not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus or a ball 
of wildfire, there 's no purchase in money. O, thou 
art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire- 
light ! Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in 

45 links and torches, walking with thee in the night 
betwixt tavern and tavern ; but the sack that thou 
hast drunk me would have bought me lights as 
good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe. I 
have maintain' d that salamander of yours with fire 

50 any time this two-and-thirty years ; God reward 
me for it ! 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 93 

Bardolph. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your 
* stomach !' 

Falstaff, God-a-mercy ! so should I be sure to be 
heart-burned. 55 

Enter Hostess. 

How now, Dame Partlet the hen ! have you in 
quired yet who picked my pocket ? 

Hostess, Why, Sir John, what do you think. Sir 
John ? do you think I keep thieves in my house ? 
I have searched, I have inquired, so has my hus- 60 
band, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant; 
the tithe of" a hair was never lost in my house 
before. 

Falstaff. Ye lie, hostess : Bardolph was shaved 
and lost many a hair; and I '11 be sworn my pocket 65 
was picked. Go to, you are a woman, go. 

Hostess, Who, I? no; I defy thee. God's light ! 
I was never called so in mine own house before. 

Falstaff, Go to, I know you well enough. 

Hostess, No, Sir John ; you do not know me. Sir 70 
John. I know you. Sir John ; you owe me money, 
Sir John, and now you pick a quarrel to beguile 
me of it. I bought you a dozen of shirts to your 
back. 

Falstaff, Dowlas, filthy dowlas; I have given 75 
them away to bakers' wives, and they have made 
bolters of them. 

Hostess, Now, as I am a true woman, holland of 
eight shillings an ell. You owe money here be- 
sides. Sir John, for your diet and by-drinkings, and 80 
money lent you, four-and-twenty pound. 

Falstaff, He had his part of it ; let him pay. 

Hostess, He? alas, he is poor ; he hath nothing. 

Falstaff. How ! poor ? look upon his face ; M'hat 
call you" rich? let them coin his nose, let them coin 85 



94 KING HENBY IV. [act hi. 

his cheeks. I'll not pay a denier. What, will you 
make a younker of nie ? shall I not take mine ease 
in mine inn but I shall have my pocket picked ? I 
have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's worth 

90 forty mark. 

Hostess. O, I have heard the prince tell him, I 
know not how oft, that that ring was copper ! 
• Falstaff. How ! the j)rince is a Jack, a sneak-cup ; 
'sblood ! an he were here, I would cudgel him like 

95 a dog, if he would say so. — 

Enter the Pbince and Peto^ marching^ and Fal- 
STAFF meets them playing on his truncheon like a 

How now, lad ! is the wind in that door, i^ faith ? 
must wx all march ? 
Bardolph. Yea, two-and-two, Newgate fashion. 
Hostess, My lord, I pray you, hear me. 
100 Prince. What say'st thou. Mistress Quickly? 
How^ does thy husband ? I love him well ; he is an 
honest man. 
Hostess. Good my lord, hear me. 
Falstaff, Prithee, let her alone, and list to me. 
105 Prince, What sayest thou, Jack? 

Falstaff, The other night I fell asleep here behind 
the arras and had my pocket picked. 
Prince. What didst thou loose. Jack? 
Falstaff, Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four 
1 10 bonds of forty pound a-piece, and a seal-ring of my 
grandfather's. 

Prince, A trifle, some eight-penny matter. 
Hostess, So I told him, my lord ; and I said I 
heard your grace say so : and, my lord, he speaks 
1 1 5 most vilely of you, like a foul-mouthed man as he 
is, and said he would cudgel you. 
Prince, What ! he did not ? 



sc. m.] KING HENRY IV. 95 

Hostess, There's neither faith, truth, nor woman- 
hood in me else. 

Falstaff. There's no more faith in thee than in a 120 
stewed prune ; nor no more truth in thee than in a 
drawn fox ; and for womanhood, Maid Marian may 
be the deputy's wife of tlie ward to thee. Go, you 
thing, go. 

Hostess. Say, what thing? what thing? I am an 125 
honest man's wife : and, setting thy knighthood 
aside, thou art a knave to call me so. 

Falstaff, Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art 
a beast to say otherwise. 

Hostess. Say, what beast, thou knave, thou ? 1 30 

Falstaff. What beast ! why, an otter. 

Prince. An otter. Sir John ! why an otter ? 

Falstaff. Why, she 's neither fish nor flesh ; a 
a man knows not where to have her. 

Hostess. Thou art an unjust man in saying so ; 135 
thou knave, thou ! 

Prince, Thou say est true, hostess ; and he sland- 
ers thee most grossly. 

Hostess. So he doth you, my lord ; and said the 
other day you ought him a thousand pound. 140 

Prince. Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound ? 

Falstaff. A thousand pound, Hal! a million : thy 
love is worth a million ; thou owest me thy love. 

Hostess. Nay, my lord, he called you Jack, and 
said he would cudgel you. I45 

Falstaff. DidI, Bardolph? 

Hardolph. Indeed, Sir John, you said so. 

Falstaff. Yea, if he said my ring was copper. 

Prince. I say 't is copper ; darest thou be as good 
as thy worcl now ? 1 5^ 

Falstaff. Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art 
but man, I dare ; but, as thou art prince, I fear thee 
as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. 



96 KING HENR F IV. [act hi. 

Prince. And why not as the lion ? 
155 Falstaff. The king himself is to be feared as the 
lion ; dost thou think I '11 fear thee as I fear thy 
father ? nay, an I do, I pray God my girdle break. 
Prince. Sirrah, there 's no room for faith, truth, 
nor honesty in this bosom of thine. Charge an 
160 honest woman with picking thy pocket ! why, thou 
impudent, embossed rascal, if there were anything 
in thy pocket but tavern-reckonings, and one poor 
penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long- 
winded,— if thy pocket were enriched with any 
165 other injuries but these, I am a villain : and yet 
you will stand to it ; you Avill not pocket up wrong. 
Art thou not ashamed ? 

Falstaff. Dost thou hear, Hal ? thou know'st in 
the state of innocency Adam fell ; and what should 
170 poor Jack Falstaff do in the days of villainy ? Thou 
seest I have more flesh than another man, and 
therefore more frailty. You confess, then, you 
picked my pocket ? 

Prince. It appears so by the story. 
175 Falstaff. Hostess, I forgive thee : go, make ready 
breakfast ; love thy husband, look to thy servants, 
cherish thy guests : thou shalt find me tractable to 
any honest reason ; thou seest I am pacified. — 
Still? Nay, prithee, be gone. — [Exit Hostess.] 
180 Now, Hal, to the news at court ; for the robbery, 
lad, how is that answered ? 

Prince. O, my sweet beef, I must still be good 
angel to thee ; the money is paid back again. 
Falstaff. O, I do not like that paying back ; 't is 
185 a double labor. 

Prince. I am good friends with my father and 
may do anything. 

Falstaff. Rob me the exchequer the first thing 
thou doest, and do it with unwash'd hands top. 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 97 

Bardolph. Do, my lord. - 190 

Prinze, I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of 
foot. 

Falstaff. I would it had been of horse. Where 
shall I find one that can steal well ? O for a fine 
thief, of the age of two-and-twenty or thereabouts ! 195 
I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked 
for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous ; 
I laud them, I praise them. 

Prince, Bardolph ! 

Bardolph. My lord ? 200 

Prince. Go bear this letter to Lord John of Lan- 
caster, 
To my brother John ; this to my Lord of West- 
moreland. [^Exit Bardolph. 
Go, Poins, to horse, to horse ; for thou and I 
Have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner-time. 

\_Exit Poins. 
Meet me to-morrow, Jack, in the Temple-hall 205 

At two o'clock in the afternoon : 
There shalt thou know thy charge ; and there re- 
ceive 
Money and order for their furniture. 
The land is burning ; Percy stands on high ; 
And either they or we must lower lie. [Exit. 210 

FaUtaff. Rare words ! brave world ! — Hostess, 
my breakfast ; come ! — 
O, I could wish this tavern were my drum ! [Exit, 



98 KING HENRY IV. [act iv. 



ACT IV. 

SCENE I. The Rebel Carup near Shrewsbury, 

Enter Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas. 

Hotspur. Well said, my noble Scot ; if speaking 
truth 
In this fine age were not thought flattery, 
Such attribution should the Douglas have 
As not a soldier of this season's stamp 
5 Should go so general current through the world. 
By Heaven, I cannot flatter ; I defy 
The tongues of soothers ; but a braver place 
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself. 
Nay, task me to my word ; approve me, lord. 
ID Douglas, Thou art the king of honor ; 
No man so potent breathes upon the ground 
But I will beard him. 
Hotspur, Do so, and 't is well. — 

Enter a Messenger luith letters. 

What letters hast thou there ?— I can but thank you. 

Messenger, These letters come from your father. 

1 5 Hotspur, Letters from him ! why comes he not 

himself? 

Messenger, He cannot come, my lord ; he is 

grievous sick. 
Hotspur, Zounds ! how has he the leisure to be 
sick 
In such a justling time ? Who leads his power ? 
Under w^hose government come they along ? 
2o Messenger. His letters bear his mind, not I, my 
lord. 
Woi^cester. I prithee, tell me, doth he keep his 
bed? 



sc. I.] KING HENRY IV. 99 

Messenger, He did, my lord, four days ere I set 
forth ; 
And, at the time of my departure thence, 
He was much fear'd by his physicians. 

Worcester, I would the state of time had first 
been whole 25 

Ere he by sickness had been visited ; 
His health was never better worth than now. 

Hotspur, Sick now ! droop now ! this sickness 
doth infect 
The very life-blood of our enterprise ; 
'T is catching hither, even to our camp. 30 

He writes me here that inward sickness — 
And that his friends by deputation could not 
So soon be drawn, nor did he think it meet 
To lay so dangerous and dear a trust 
On any soul removed but on his own. 35 

Yet doth he give us bold advertisement. 
That with our small conjunction we should on. 
To see how fortune is disposed to us ; 
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now, 
Because the king is certainly possessed 40 

Of all our purposes. What say you to it? 

Worcester. Your father's sickness is a maim to us. 

Hotspur, A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off; 
And yet, in faith 't is not ; his present want 
Seems more than we shall find it. — Were it good 45 
To set the exact wealth of all our states 
All at one cast ? to set so rich a main 
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour ? 
It were not good ; for therein should we read 
The very bottom and the soul of hope, 5^ 

The very list, the very utmost bound 
Of all our fortunes. 

Doufjlas, Faith, and so we should ; 

Where now remains a sweet reversion. 



100 KING HENRY IV. [act iv. 

We may boldly spend upon the hope of what 

55 Is to come in ; 

A comfort of retirement lives in this. 

Hotspur, A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, 
If that the devil and mischance look big 
Upon the maidenhood of our affairs. 

60 Worcester. But yet I would your father had been 
here. 
The quality and hair of our attempt 
Brooks no division. It will be thought 
By some, that know not why he is away, 
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike 

65 Of our proceedings kept the earl from hence; 
And think how such an apprehension 
May turn the tide of fearful faction 
And breed a kind of question in our cause ; 
For w^ell you know we of the offering side 

70 Must keep aloof from strict arbitrament, 

And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence 
The eye of reason may pry in upon us. 
This absence of your father's draws a curtain, 
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear 

75 Before not dreamt of. 

Hotspur. You strain too far. 

I rather of his absence make this use : — 
It lends a luster and more great opinion, 
A larger dare to our great enterprise, 
Than if the earl were here ; for men must think, 

80 If we without his help can make a head 
To push against the kingdom, with his help 
We shall overturn it topsy-turvy down. 
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole. 
Douglas. As heart can think ; there is not such a 
word 

gr Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear. 



SCI.] KING HENRY IV. 101 

Enter Sir Richard Vernon. 

Hotspur, My cousin Vernon ! welcome, by my 
soul. 

Vernon, Pray God my news be worth a welcome, 
lord. 
The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, 
Is marching hither wards : with him Prince John. 

Hotspur, No harm ; what more ? 

Vernon, And, further, I have learned 90 

The king himself in person is set forth, 
Or hitherwards intended speedily. 
With strong and mighty preparation. 

Hotspur, He shall be welcome too. Where is his 
son. 
The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, 95 

And his comrades, that dafF^d the world aside, 
And bid it pass ? 

Vernon, All furnish' d, all in arms ; 

All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind : 
Baited like eagles having lately bath'd ; 
Glittering in golden coats, like images ; 100 

As full of spirit as the month of May, 
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer ; 
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls. 
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on. 
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd, 105 

Rise from the ground like feather' d Mercury, 
And vault it with such ease into his seat. 
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, 
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, 
And witch the world with noble horsemanship. 1 10 
Hotspur, No more, no more ; worse than the sun 
in March, 
This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come ; 
They come like sacrifices in their trim. 
And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, 



102 KING HENRY IV. [act iv. 

1 1 5 All hot and bleeding, will we offer them ; 
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit 
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire 
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh 
And yet not ours. — Come, let me take my horse, 
1 20 Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt 

Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales ; 
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse, 
Meet, and ne'er part till one dro]3 down a corse. 
O that Glendower were come ! 

Vernon. There is more news ; 

125 I learned in Worcester, as I rode along. 

He cannot draw his power this fourteen days. 
Douglas. That 's the worst tidings that I hear 

of yet. 
Worcester. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty 

sound. 
Hotspur. What may the king's whole battle reach 
unto? 
1 30 Vernon. To thirty thousand. 

Hotspur. ^ Forty let it be ; 

My father and Glendower being both away, 
The powers of us may serve so great a day. 
Come, let us take a muster speedily ; 
Doomsday is near ; die all, die merrily. 
135 Douglas. Talk not of dying ; I am out of fear 
Of death or death's hand for this one-half year. 

[^Exeunt. 

Scene II. A Public Road near Coventry. 
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. 

Falstaff. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry ; 
fill me a bottle of sack. Our soldiers shall march 
through ; we '11 to Sutton Co' fiP to-night. 

Bardolph. Will you give me money, captain ? 
5 Falstaff. Lay out, lay out. 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV, 103 

Bardolph, This bottle makes an angel. 

FaUtaff, An if it do, take it for thy labor ; an 
if it make twenty, take them all ; I '11 answer the 
coinage. Bid my lieutenant Peto meet me at the 
town's end. lo 

Barclolph. I will, captain ; farewell. [Exit. 

Falstaff, If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I 
am a soused gurnet. I have misused the king's 
press damnably. I have got, in exchange of a 
hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd 15 
pounds. I press me none but good householders, 
yeomen's sons ; inquire me out contracted bachelors, 
such as had been ask'd twice on the banns ; such a 
commodity of warm slaves as had as lief hear the 
devil as a drum ; such as fear the report of a caliver 20 
worse than a struck fowl or a hurt w^ild-duck. I 
press' d me none but such toasts-and-butter, with 
hearts no bigger than pins' heads, and they 
have bought out their services ; and now my whole 
charge consists of ancients, corporals, lieutenants, 25 
gentlemen of comi)anies, slaves as ragged as 
Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the glutton's 
dogs lick his sores ; and such as, indeed, were never 
soldiers, but discarded unjust serving-men, younger 
sons to younger brothers, revolted tapsters and 30 
ostlers trade-fallen, the cankers of a calm world and 
a long peace, ten times more dishonorable ragged 
than an old faced ancient : and such have I, to fill 
up the rooms of them that have bought out their 
services, that you would think that I had a hun-35 
dred and fifty tattered prodigals lately come from 
swine-keeping, from eating drafi* and husks. A 
mad fellow met me on the way, and told me I had 
unloaded all the gibbets and press' d the dead 
bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I '11 40 
not march through Coventry with them, that 's 



104 KING HENRY TV. [act iv. 

flat ! nay, and the villains march wide betwixt the 
legs, as if they had gyves on ; for, indeed, I had the 
most of them out of prison. There 's but a shirt 

45 and a half in all my company ; and the half-shirt 
is two napkins tacked together and thrown over 
the shoulders like a herald's coat without sleeves ; 
and the shirt, to say the truth, stolen from my host 
at Saint Alban's, or the red-nose inn-keeper of 

50 Daventry. But that 's all one ; they '11 find linen 
enough on every hedge. 

Enter the Prince and Westmoreland. 

Prince. How now, blown Jack ! how now, quilt ! 

Falstaff, What, Hal ! how now, mad wag ! what 

a devil dost thou in Warwickshire?— My good 

55 Lord of Westmoreland, T cry you mercy ; I thought 

your honor had already been* at Shrewsbury. 

Westmoreland, Faith, Sir John, 't is more than 
time that I were there, and you too ; but my powers 
are there already. The king, I can tell you, looks 
60 for us all ; we must away all to-night. 

Falstaff, Tut, never fear me ; I am as vigilant as 
a cat to steal cream. 

Prince, I think, to steal cream, indeed ; for thy 
theft hath already made thee butter. But tell me, 
65 Jack, whose fellows are these that come after? 
Falstaff, Mine, Hal, mine. 
Prince, I did never see such pitiful rascals. 
Falstaff, Tut, tut ; good enough to toss ; food for 
powder, food for powder ; they '11 fill a pit as well 
70 as better : tush, man, mortal men, mortal men. 

Westmoreland, Ay, but. Sir John, methinksthey 
are exceeding poor and bare, — too beggarly. 

Falstaff, Faith, for their poverty, — I know not 
where they had that ; and, for their bareness, — I 
75 am sure they never learned that of me. 



sc. Ill ] KING HENRY IV. 105 

Prince. No, I '11 be sworn ; unless you call three 
fingers on the ribs bare. But, sirrah, make haste ; 
Percy is already in the field. 

Falstaff. What, is the king encamped ? 

Westmoreland, He is, Sir John ; I fear we shall 80 
stay too long. 

Falstaff. Well, 
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a 

feast 
Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest. [Exeunt, 

SCENE III. — The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury, 

Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Douglas, and 
Vernon. 

Hotspur, We '11 fight with him to-night. 

Worcester. It may not be. 

Douglas. You give him then advantage. 

Vernon. Not a whit. 

Hotspur, Why say you so? looks he not for 
supply ? 

Vernon, So do we. 

Hotspur, His is certain, ours is doubtful. 

Worcester, Good cousin, be advis'd ; stir not to- 
night. 5 

Vernon, Do not, my lord. 

Douglas, You do not counsel well; 

You speak it out of fear and cold heart. 

Vernon. Do me no slander, Douglas ; by my life. 
And I dare well maintain it with my life, 
If well-respected honor bid me on, 10 

I hold as little counsel with Aveak fear 
As you or any Scot that this day lives. 
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle 
Which of us fears. 



106 KING HENRY IV. [act iv. 

Douglas, Yea, or to-night. 

Vernon. Content. 

1 5 Hotspur, To-night, say I. 

Vernon, Come, come, it may not be. I wonder 
much. 
Being men of such great leading as you are, 
That you foresee not what impediments 
Drag back our expedition : certain horse 
20 Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up ; 
Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day ; 
And now their pride and mettle is asleep, 
Their courage w^ith hard labor tame and dull, 
That not a horse is half the half himself. 
25 Hotspur. So are the horses of the enemy 
In general, journey-bated and brought low ; 
The better part of ours are full of rest. 

Worcester. The number of the king exceedeth 
ours ; 
For God's sake, cousin, stay till all come in. 

[ The trumpet sounds a parley. 

Enter Sir Walter Blunt. 

30 Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the king. 
If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect. 
Hotspur. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt ; and would 
to God 
You were of our determination ! 
Some of us love you well ; and even those some 
35 Envy your great deservings and good name, 
Becaiuse you are not of our quality, 
But stand against us like an enemy. 

Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand so, 
So long as out of limit and true rule 
40 You stand against anointed majesty. 

But to my charge. The king hath sent to know 
The nature of your griefs, and whereupon 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 107 

You conjure from the breast of civil peace 
Sucli bold hostility, teaching his duteous land 
Audacious cruelty. If that the king 45 

Have any way your good deserts forgot, 
Which he confesseth to be manifold. 
He bids you name your griefs, and with all speed 
You shall have your desires w^ith interest. 
And pardon absolute for yourself and these 50 

Herein misled by your suggestions. 
Hotspur, The king is kind ; and well we know 
the king 
Knows at what time to promise, when to pay. 
My father and my uncle and myself 
Did give him that same royalty he wears ; 55 

And, when he was not six-and-twenty strong. 
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, 
A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home, 
My father gave him welcome to the shore : 
And, when he heard him swear and vow to God 60 
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster, 
To sue his livery and beg his peace. 
With tears of innocence and terms of zeal, 
My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd. 
Swore him assistance, and performed it too. 65 

Now, when the lords and barons of the realm 
Perceived Northumberland did lean to him. 
The more and less came in with cap and knee ; 
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages. 
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes, 7° 

Laid gifts before him, proffer' d him their oaths, 
Gave him their heirs as pages, foUow'd him 
Even at the heels in golden multitudes. 
He presently, as greatness knows itself, 
Steps me a little higher than his vow 75 

Made to my father, while his blood was poor, 
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg ; 



108 KING HENRY IV, [act iv. 

And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform 
Some certain edicts and some strait decrees 

80 Tliat lie too heavy on the commonwealth ; 
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep 
Over his country's wrongs ; and, by this face, 
This seeming brow of justice, did he win 
The hearts of all that he did angle for ; 

85 Proceeded farther ; cut me off the heads 
Of all the favorites that the absent king 
In deputation left behind him here. 
When he was personal in the Irish war. 
Blunt, Tut ! I came not to hear this. 
Hotspur. Then to the point. 

90 In short time after, he deposed the king ; 
Soon after that, deprived him of his life ; 
And, in the neck of that, tasked the whole state ; 
To make that worse, suffered his kinsman March — 
Who is, if every owner were well placed, 

95 Indeed his king — to be engaged in Wales, 
There without ransom to lie forfeited ; 
Disgraced me in my happy victories. 
Sought to entrap me by intelligence ; 
Rated mine uncle from the council-board ; 

100 In i*age dismissed my father from the court ; 

Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong, 
And, in conclusion, drove us to seek out 
This head of safety ; and withal to pry 
Into his title, the which now we find 

105 Too indirect for long continuance. 

Blunt, Shall I return this answer to the king ? 
Hotspur, Not so. Sir Walter ; we '11 withdraw 
awhile. 
Go to the king ; and let thereby impawn'd 
Some surety for a safe return again, 

1 10 And in the morning early shall my uncle 
Bring him our purposes : and so farewell. 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 109 

Blunt I would you would accept of grace and 

love. 
Hoispu?'. And may be so we shall. 
Blunt Pray God you do. 

\ Exeunt, 

SCENE IV.— York. The Archbishop's Palace. 

Enter the Archbishop of York and Sir 
Michael. 

Archbishop. Hie, good Sir Michael ; bear this 
sealed brief 
With winged haste to the lord mareshal ; 
This to my cousin Scroop, and all the rest 
To whom they are directed. If you knew 
How much they do import, you would make haste. 5 

Sir Michael. My good lord, 
I guess their tenor. 

Archbishop. Like enough you do. 

To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day 
Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men 
Must bide the touch ; for, sir, at Shrewsbury, 10 

As I am truly given to understand, 
The king with mighty and quick-raisfed power 
Meets with Lord Harry ; and, I fear. Sir Michael, 
What w^ith the sickness of Northumberland, 
Whose power was in the first proportion, 15 

And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence. 
Who with them was a rated sinew too. 
And comes not in, o'er-ruPd by prophecies, — 
I fear the power of Percy is too w^eak 
To wage an instant trial with the king. 20 

Sir Michael. Why, my good lord, you need not 
fear ; there 's Douglas 
And Lord Mortimer. 

Archbishop. No, Mortimer 's not there. 



110 KING HENRY IV. [act iv. 

Sir Michael, But there is Mordake, Vernon, 
Harry Percy. 
And there 's my Lord of Worcester, and a head 
25 Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen. 

Archbishop. And so there is ; but yet the king 
hath drawn 
The special head of all the land together : 
The Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, 
The noble Westmoreland, and warlike Blunt, 
30 And many more corrivals and dear men 
Of estimation and command in arms. 
Sir Michael. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be 

well oppos'd. 
Archbishop. I hope no less, yet needful 't is to 
fear ; 
And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed : 
35 For, if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the king 
Dismiss his power he means to visit us, 
For he hath heard of our confederacy ; 
And 't is but wisdom to make strong against him. 
Therefore make haste. I must go write again 
40 To other friends ; and so, farewell. Sir Michael. 

lUxeunt 



sc. I.] KIXG HENRY IV. Ill 

ACT V. 

SCENE I. The King^s Camp near Shrewsbury. 

Enter the KixG, Prince of Wales, Lord John 
OF Lancaster, Sir Walter Blunt, and Fal- 

STAFF. 

King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer 
Above yon bosky hill I the day looks pale 
At his distemperature. 

Prince. The southern wind 

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes, 
And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves, 5 

Foretells a tempest and a blustering day. 

King. Then with the losers let it sympathize. 
For nothing can seem foul to those that win. — 

\_The trumpet sounds. 

Enter Worcester and Vernon. 

How now, my Lord of Worcester ! ^t is not well 

That you and I should meet upon such terms 10 

As now we meet. You have deceived our trust, 

And made us dotf our easy robes of peace, 

To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel ; 

This is not well, my lord, this is not well. 

What say you to it ? will you again unknit 1 5 

This churlish knot of all-abhorred war ? 

And move in that obedient orb again 

Where you did give a fan* and natural light, 

And be'no more an exhal'd meteor, 

A prodigy of fear and a i^ortent 20 

Of broached mischief to the unborn times ? 

Worcester. Hear me, my liege. 
For mine own x^art, I could be well content 



1 1 2 KING HENB Y IV. [act v. 

To entertain the lag-end of my life 

25 With quiet hours ; for, I do protest, 

I have not sought the day of this dislike. 
King. You have not sought it ! how comes it, 

then ? 
Falstaff. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found 

it. 
Prince. Peace, chewet, peace ! 

30 Worcester. It pleas' d you majesty to turn your 
looks 
Of favor from myself and all our house ; 
And yet I must remember you, my lord. 
We were the first and dearest of your friends. 
For you my staff of office did I break 

35 In Richard's time ; and posted day and night 
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand, 
When yet you were in place and in account 
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I. 
It was myself, my brother, and his son 

40 That brought you home, and boldly did outdare 
The dangers of the time. You swore to us, . 
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster, 
That "you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state ; 
Nor claim no further than your new-fall 'n right, 

45 The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster : 
To this we swore our aid. But, in short space. 
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head ; 
And such a flood of greatness fell on you. 
What with our help, what with the absent king, 

53 What with the injuries of a wanton time. 
The seeming sufferances that you had borne. 
And the contrarious winds that held the king 
So long in his unlucky Irisli wars 
That all in England did repute him dead : 

55 And, from this swarm of fair advantages. 
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd 



sc. I.] KING HENR Y IV. 1 13 

To gripe the general sway into your hand ; 

Forgot your oath to us at Doncatser, 

And, being fed by us, you us'd us so 

As tliat ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird, 60 

Useth the sparrow, — did oppress our nest, 

Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk 

That even our love durst not come near your sight 

For fear of swallowing, but w^ith nimble wing 

We were enforced, for safety sake, to fly 65 

Out of your sight and raise this present head ; 

Whereby we stand oj)posfed by such means 

As you yourself have forg'd against yourself 

By unkind usage, dangerous countenance, 

And violation of all faith and troth 70 

Sworn to us in your younger enterprise. 

King, These things, indeed, you have articulate, 
Proclaim' d at market-crosses, read in churches, 
To face the garment of rebellion 

With some fine color that may please the eye 75 

Of fickle changelings and poor discontents. 
Which, gape and rub the elbow at the news 
Of hurly-burly innovation ; 
And never yet did insurrection want 
Such water-colors to impaint his cause, 80 

Nor moody beggars, starving for a time 
Of pell-mell havoc and confusion. 

Prince, In both your armies there is many a soul 
Shall pay full dearly for this Encounter, 
If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew, 85 

The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world 
In praise of Henry Percy : by my hopes. 
This present enterprise set off his head, 
I do not think a braver gentleman. 
More active-valiant or more valiant-young, 90 

More daring or more bold, is now alive 
To grace this latter age with noble deeds. 



114 KING HENBY IV. [act v. 

For my part, I may speak it to my sham.e, 
I have a truant been to chivalry, 
95 And so I hear he doth account me too ; 
Yet this before my father's majesty — 
I am content that he sliall take the odds 
Of his great name and estimation, 
And will, to save the blood on either side, 
looTry fortune with him in a single fight. 

Kmg, And, Prince of Wales, so dare we venture 
thee. 
Albeit considerations infinite 
Do make against it. — No, good Worcester, no. 
We love our people well ; even those we love 
105 That are misled upon your cousin's part ; 
And, will they take the offer of our grace, 
Both he and they and you, yea, every man 
Shall be my friend again and I '11 be his. 
So tell your cousin, and then bring me word 
1 10 What he will do ; but, if he will not yield, 
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us, 
And they shall do their office. So, be gone, 
We will not now be troubled with reply : 
We offer fair ; take it advisedly. 

{^Exeunt Worcester and Vernon. 
1 1 5 Prince, It will not be accepted, on my life. 
The Douglas and the Hotspur both together 
Are confident against the world in arms. 
King, Hence, therefore, every leader to his 
charge. 
For, on their answer, will we set on them ; 
120 And God befriend us, as our cause is just ! 

[Exeunt all but the Prince of Wales and 

Falstaff.] 
Falstaff, Hal, if thou see me down in the battle 
and bestride me, so ; 't is a point of friendship. 

Prince, Nothing but a colossus can do thee that 
friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell. 



sc. n.] KING HENR Y IV. 1 15 

Falstaff. I would it were bedtime, Hal, and all 1 2 5 
well. 
Prince, Why, thou owest God a death. [Uxif, 
Falstaff, 'T is not due yet ; I would be loathe to 
pay him before his day. What need I be so for- 
ward with him that calls not on me? Well, 't is 130 
no matter ; honor pricks me on. Yea, but how if 
honor prick me off when I come on ? how then ? 
Can honor set to a leg ? no ; or an arm ? no : or take 
away the grief of a wound ? no. Honor hath no 
skill in surgery, then? no. What is honor? a 135 
word. What is that word honor "^ air. A trim 
reckoning ! Who hath it ? he that died o' 
Wednesday. Doth he feel it ? no. Doth he hear it? 
no. Is it insensible, then ? yea, to the dead. But 
will it not live with the living? no. Why? de- MO 
traction will not suffer it. Therefore I '11 none of 
it. Honor is a mere scutcheon ; and so ends my 
catechism. \^Exit, 

SCENE II. The Rebel Camp, 

Enter Worcester and Vernon. 

Worcester, O, no, my nephew must not know, 
Sir Richard, 
The liberal and kind offer of the king. 

Vernon, 'T were best he did. 

Worcester. Then are we all undone. 

It is not possible, it can not be. 

The king should keep his word in loving us ; 5 

He will suspect us still, and find a time 
To punish this offense in other faults. 
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes 
For treason is but trusted like the fox. 
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, 10 
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors. 



116 KING HENRY IV. [act v. 

Look how we can, or sad or merrily, 
Interpretation will misquote our looks, 
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall, 

1 5 The better cherished, still the nearer death. 
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot ; 
It hath th' excuse of youth and heat of blood, 
And an adopted name of privilege, 
A hare-brain 'd Hotspur, governed by a spleen. 

20 All his offences live upon my head 

And on his father's ; we did train him on, 
And, his corruption being ta'en from us, 
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all. 
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know, 

25 In any case, the offer of the king. 

Vernon. Deliver what you will ; I '11 say 't is so, 
Here comes your cousin. 

Unfer Hotspur and Douglas. 

Hotspur. My uncle is return' d ; 
Deliver up my Lord of Westmoreland. — 
30 Uncle, what news ? 

Worcester. The king will bid you battle pres- 
ently. 
Douglas. Defy him by the Lord of Westmore- 
land. 
Hotspur. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. 
Douglas. Marry, and shall, and very willingly. 

[Uxit. 
35 Worcester. There is no seeming mercy in the 
king. 
Hotspur. Did you beg any ? God forbid ! 
Worcester. 1 told him gently of our grievances, 
Of his oath-breaking ; which he mended thus, 
By now forswearing that he is forsworn. 
40 He calls us rebels, traitors ; and will scourge 
With haughty arms this hateful name in us. 



sc. II.] KING HENRY IV, 117 

Re-enter Douglas. 

Douglas, Arm, gentlemen ! to arms ! for I have 
thrown 
A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth, 
And Westmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it ; 
Which can not choose but bring him quickly on. 45 

Worcester, The Prince of Wales stepp'd forth 
before the king, 
And, nephew, challenged you to single fight. 

Hotspur, O, would the quarrel lay upon our 
heads, 
And that no man might draw short breath to-day 
But I and Harry Monmouth ! Tell me, tell me, 5^ 
How showed his tasking? seem'd it in contempt? 

Vernon, No, by my soul ; I never in my life 
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly, 
Unless a brother should a brother dare 
To gentle exercise and proof of arms. 55 

He gave you all the duties of a man, 
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue, 
Spoke your deservings like a chronicle. 
Making you ever better than his praise. 
By still dispraising praise valued with you : 60 

And, which became him like a prince indeed. 
He made a blushing cital of himself, 
And chid his truant youth with such«a grace 
As if he mastered there a double spirit 
Of teaching and of learning instantly. 65 

There did he pause ; but let me tell the world. 
If he outlive the envy of this da}", 
England did never owe so sweet a hope, 
So much misconstrued in his wantonness. 

Hotspur, Cousin, I think thou art enamored 70 
Upon his follies ; never did I hear 
Of any prince so wild o' liberty. 
But, be he as he will, yet once ere night 



118 KING HENB Y IV, [act t. 

I will embrace him with a soldier's arm, 
75 That he shall shrink vmder my courtesy. — 

Arm, arm with speed ! and, fellows, soldiers, 

friends. 
Better consider what you have to do 
Than I, that have not w^ell the gift of tongue, 
Can lift your blood up with persuasion. 

Enter a Messenger. 

80 Messenger. My lord, here are letters for you. 
Hotspur, I can not read them now. — 

O gentlemen, the time of life is short ! 

To spend that shortness basely w^ere too long, 

If life did ride upon a dial's point, 
85 Still ending at th' arrival of an hour. 

An if we live, Ave live to tread on kings ; 

If die, brave death, when princes die with us ! 

Now, for our consciences, the arms are fair, 

When the intent of bearing them is just. 

Enter another Messenger. 

90 Messenger, My lord, prepare ; the king comes on 
apace. 
Hotspur, I thank him that he cuts me from my 
tale. 
For I profess not talking ; only this — 
Let each man do his best : and here draw I 
A sword, whose temper I intend to stain 
95 With the best blood that I can meet withal 
In the adventure of this perilous day. 
Now, Esperanc^ ! Percy ! and set on. — 
Sound all the lofty instruments of war, 
And by that music let us all embrace ; 
r GO For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall 
A second time do such a courtesy. 
[ The trumpets somid. They embrace^ and exeunt. 



sc. III.] KING HENRY IV. 119 

SCENE III. Plain between the Camps, 

The King enters with his power. Alarum to the 
battle. Then enter Douglas and Sir Walter 
Blunt. 

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus 
Thou Grossest me ? what honor dost thou seek 
Upon my head ? 

Douglas. Know, then, my name is Douglas ; 

And I do haunt thee in the battle thus 
Because some tell me that thou art a king. 5 

Blunt. They tell thee true. 

Douglas, The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath 
bought 
Thy likeness ; for, instead of thee. King Harry, 
This sword hath ended him ; so shall it thee, 
Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner. 10 

Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot; 
And thou shalt find a king that will revenge 
Lord Stafford's death. 

\_They fight. Douglas kills Blunt. 

Enter Hotspur. 

Hotspur. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Hol- 
medon thus, 
I never had triumphed upon a Scot. 1 5 

Douglas. All 's done, all 's won ; here breathless 

lies the king. 
Hotspur. Where? 
Douglas. Here. 

Hotspur. This, Douglas ? no ; I know this face 
full well: 
A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt, 20 
Semblably furnish 'd like the king himself. 

Douglas. A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes! 
A borrowed title hast thou bought too dear ; 



120 KING HENRY IV, [act v. 

Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king ? 
25 Hotspur, Tlie king hath many masking in his 
coats. 
Douglas. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his 
coats ; 
I '11 murder all his wardrobe, piece by piece, 
Until I meet the king. 

Hotspur. Up, and away ! 

Our soldiers stand full fairl}^ for the day. [Exeunt. 

Alarum. Enter Falstaff, solus. 

30 Falstaff. Though I could -scape shot-free at Lon- 
don, I fear the shot here ; here's no scoring but 
upon the pate. — Soft ! who are you ! Sir Walter 
Blunt. — There's honor for you ! here 's no vanity ! 
I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy, too ; God 

35 keep lead out of me ! I need no more weight than 
mine own bowels. — I have led my ragamuffins 
where they are peppered : there 's not three of my 
hundred and fifty left alive ; and they are for the 
town's end, to beg during life. But who comes 

40 here ? 

Enter the Prince. 

Prince. What, stand' st thou idle here ? lend me 
thy sword ; 
Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff 
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies. 
Whose deaths are yet unreveng'd. Prithee, lend 
me thy sword. 
45 Falstaff. O Hal, I prithee, give me leave to 
breathe awhile. Turk Gregory never did such 
deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have paid 
Percy, I have made him sure. 
Prince. He is, indeed ; and living to kill thee. I 
50 prithee, lend me thy sword. ' 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 121 

Falstaff, Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, 
thou gett'st not my sword ; but take my pistol, if 
thou wilt. 

Prince. Give it me. What, is it in the case ? 

Falstaff. Ay, Hal ; 't is hot, 'tis hot; there's that 55 
will sack a city. 
\_The PftiNCE draws it out^ and finds it to be a bottle 

of sack. ~\ 

Prince, What, is 't time to jest and dally now ? 
\_IIe throws the bottle at him. Exit. 

Falstaff. Well, if Percy be alive, I '11 pierce him. 
If he do come in my way, so ; if he do not, if I come 
in his willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. 60 
I like not such grinning honor as Sir Walter hath ; 
give me life ; which if I can save, so ; if not, honor 
comes unlooked for, and there 's an end. \_Exit. 

SCENE IV. Another part of the field. 

Alarum. Excursions. Enter the King, the Pbince, 
Lord John of Lancaster, and Westmore- 
land. 

King. I prithee, 
Harry, withdraw thyself ; thou bleed' st too much. — 
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him. 

Lancaster. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. 

Prince. I beseech your majesty, make up, r 

Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. 

King. I will do so. — 
My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. 

Westmoreland. Come, my lord, I '11 lead you to 
your tent. 

Prince. Lead me, my lord ? I do not need your 

help ; 10 

And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive 
The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, 



122 KING HENRY IV. [act v. 

Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on, 
And rebels^ arms triumph in massacres ! 
1 5 Lancaster, We breathe too long. Come, cousin 
Westmoreland, 
Our duty this way lies ; for God's sake, come. 

\_Exeunt Prince John and Westmoreland. 
Prince, By Heaven, thou hast deceived me, Lan- 
caster ; 
I did not think thee lord of such a spirit. 
Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John ; 
20 But now, I do respect thee as my soul. 

King, I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point 
With lustier maintenance than I did look for 
Of such an ungrown warrior. 

Prince, O, this boy 

Lends mettle to us all ! [Exit, 

Enter Douglas. 

25 Douglas, Another king ! they grow like Hydra^s 
heads. 
I am the Douglas, fatal to all those 
That wear those colors on them ; what art thou 
That counterfeit' st the person of a king? 
King, The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves 
at heart 
30 So many of his shadows thou hast met 
And not the very king. I have two boys 
Seek Percy and thyself about the field : 
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily, 
I will assay thee ; so defend thyself. 
35 Douglas, I fear thou art another counterfeit ; 
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king : 
But mine I 'm sure thou art, whoe'er thou be. 
And thus I win thee. [ They fight ; the King being 

in danger^ re-enter Prince 
OF Wales. 



sc. IV.] KING HENBY IV. 123 

Prince. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art 
like 
Never to hold it up again ! the spirits 40 

Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt are in my arms ; 
It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee. 
Who never promiseth but he means to pay. — 

[They fight: Douglas /ies. 
Cheerly, my lord ! how fares your grace ? 
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent, 45 

And so hath Clifton ; I '11 to Clifton straight. 

King, Stay, and breathe awliile. 
Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion, 
And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my life. 
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. 50 

Prince. O God ! they did me too mucli injury 
That ever said I hearkened for your death. 
If it were so, I might have let alone 
Th' insulting hand of Douglas over you. 
Which would have been as speedy in your end 55 
As all the poisonous potions in the world, 
And sav'd the treacherous labor of J^our son. 

King. Make up to Clifton ; I '11 to Sir Nicholas 
Gawsey. [Exit. 

Enter Hotspur. 

Hotspur. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Mon- 
mouth. 

Prince. Thou speak' st as if I would deny my 6o 
name. 

Hotspur. My name is Harry Percy. 

Prince. Why, then I see 

A very valiant rebel of that name. 
I am the Prince of Wales ; and think not, Percy, 
To share with me in glory any more : 
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere, 65 
Nor can one England brook a double reign, 



124 KING HENRY IV, [act v. 

Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales. 
Hotspur, Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is 
come 
To end the one of us ; and would to God 
70 Thy name in arms were now as great as mine ! 

Prince. I '11 make it greater ere I part from thee ; 
And all the budding honors on thy crest 
I '11 crop, to make a garland for my head. 
Hotspur, I can no longer brook thy vanities. 

IThei/ fight. 

Enter Falstaff. 

7 5 Falstaff, Well said, Hal ! to it, Hal !— Nay, you 
shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you. 

Re-enter JyQi\5QrLK^ ; he fights with Falstaff, t(;/io 
falls down as if he were dead, and exit Douglas. 
Hotspur is wounded j and falls. 

Hotspur. O Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my 
youth ! 
I better brook the loss of brittle life 
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me ; 
80 They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword 

my flesh : 
• But thought 's the slave of life, and life time's fool ; 
And time, that takes survey of all the world. 
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy. 
But that the earthy and cold hand of death 
85 Lies on my tongue ! — No, Percy, thou art dust. 
And food for— IDies. 

. Prince, For worms, brave Percy ; fare thee well, 

great heart ! 
Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk ! 
When that this body did contain a spirit, 
90 A kingdom for it was too small a bound ; 
But now two paces of the vilest earth 
Is room enough : this earth that bears thee dead 



sc. IV.] KING HENRY IV. 125 

Bears not alive so stout a gentleman. 

If thou wert sensible of courtesy, 

I should not make so dear a show of zeal ; 95 

But let my favors hide thy mangled face, 

And, even in thy behalf, 1 11 thank myself 

For doing these fair rites of tenderness. 

Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven ! 

Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave, loo 

But not remember 'd in thy epitaph ! — 

[He sjneth Falstaff on the ground. 
What, old acquaintance ! could not all this flesh 
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell ! 
I could have better spar'd a better man. 
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee, 105 

If I were much in love with vanity ! 
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, 
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. 
Embower d w^ill I see thee by and by ; 
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. [Exit, 1 10 

Falstaff, [Bising ifp.] Embowel' d! if thou em- 
bowel me to-day, I '11 give you leave to powder me 
and eat me too to-morrow ! 'Sblood ! 't was time 
to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid 
me scot and lot too. Counterfeit ? I lie, I am no 1 1 5 
counterfeit : to die is to be a counterfeit, for he is 
but the counterfeit of a man wdio hath not the life 
of a man ; but to counterfeit dying, w^hen a man 
thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true 
and perfect image of life indeed. The better part 120 
of valor is discretion ; in the which better part I 
have saved my life. Zounds ! I am afraid of this 
gunpowder Percy, though he be dead. How if he 
should counterfeit too and rise? by my faith, I am 
afraid he w^ould prove the better counterfeit. 125 
Therefore I '11 make him sure ; yea, and I '11 swear 
I killed him. Why may not he rise as well as I ? 
Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees 



126 KING HENRY IV. [act v. 

me. Therefore, sirrah [^stabbing Mrn]^ with a new 
130 wound in your thigh, come you along with me. 

[Takes up Hotspur on his back. 

Re-enter the Prixce of Wales and Lord John 
OF Lancaster. 

Prince, Come, brother John ; full bravely hast 
thou flesh 'd 
Thy maiden sword. 

Lancaster, But, soft ! whom have we here ? 

Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? 
Prince, I did ; I saw him dead, 
135 Breathless and bleeding on the ground. — Art thou 
alive ? 
Or is it fant'sy plays upon our sight? 
I prithee, speak ; we will not trust our eyes 
Without our ears : thou art not what thou seem^st. 
Falstaff, Xo, that 's certain ; I am not a double 
1 40 man, but if I be not Jacli FalstatF, then am I a 
Jack. There is Percy [throwing the body downl : if 
your father will do me any honor, so ; if not, let 
him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either 
earl or duke, I can assure you. 
145 Prince, Why, Percy I kiird myself and saw thee 
dead. 
Falstaff, Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this 
world is given to lying ! I grant you I was down 
and out of breath ; and so was he : but we rose both 
at an instant and fought a long hour by Shrews- 
1 50 bury clock. If I may be believed, so ; if not, let 
them that should reward valor bear the sin upon 
their own heads. I '11 take 't on my death, I gave 
him this wound in the thigh ; if"^ the man were 
alive and would deny it, zounds ! I would make 
155 hiui eat a piece of my sword. 

Lancaster, This is the strangest tale that ever I 
heard. 



sc. v.] KING HENRY IV. 127 

Prince, This is the strangest fellow, brother 
John. — 
Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back ; 
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, 
I '11 gild it with the happiest terms I have, — 1 60 

[A retreat is sounded. 
The trumpet sounds retreat ; the day is ours. 
Come, brother, let 's to the highest of the field, 
To see what friends are living, who are dead. 

[Exeunt Prince of Wales and Lancaster. 
Falstaff. I '11 follow, as they say, for reward. He 
that rewards me, God reward him ! If I do grow 230 
great, I '11 grow less ; for I '11 purge, and leave sack, 
and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do. \^Exit 

SCENE v.— Another Part of the field. 

The trumpets sound. Enter the King, Prince of 
Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, West- 
moreland, and others^ with Worcester and 
Vernon prisoner's. 

King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke. — 
Ill-spirited Worcester ! did not we send grace, 
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you ? 
And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary ? 
Misuse the tenor of thy kinsman's trust ? 5 

Three knights upon our party slain to-day, 
A noble earl, and many a creature else 
Had been alive this hour. 
If, like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne 
Betwixt our armies true intelligence. 10 

Worcester, What I have done my safety urg'd 
me to ; 
And I embrace this fortune patiently, 
Since not to be avoided it falls on me. 

King. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon 
too ; 



128 KING HENRY IV. [act v. 

15 Other offenders we will pause upon. — 

[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, guarded. 
How goes the field ? 
Prince, The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he 
saw 
The fortune of the day quite turned from him. 
The noble Percy slain, and all his men 
20 Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest. 
And, falling from a hill, he was so bruised 
That the pursuers took him. At my tent 
The Douglas is ; and I beseech your grace 
I may dispose of him. 
King, With all my heart. 

45 Prince, Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you 
This honorable bounty shall belong. 
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him 
Up to his pleasure, ransomless and free. 
His valor shown upon our crests to-day 
50 Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds 
Even in the bosom of our adversaries. 
Lancaster, I thank your grace for this high 
courtesy, 
Which I shall give away immediately. 

King. Then this remains, that we divide our 
power. — 
55 You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland 
Towards York shall bend you with your dearest 

speed, 
To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop, 
Who, as we hear, are busily in arms. — 
Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales, 
60 To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March. 
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway, 
Meeting the check of such another day ; 
And, since this business so fair is done, 
Let us not leave till all our own be won. [Exeunt, 



NOTES 



The notes that follow are largely those of the Longman 
Edition of this Play. In adapting the notes of this Edition 
to our needs, the original have been much changed— much 
added to and subtracted from. 

ACT FIRST. 

Scene 1. 

3. New, other than those civil broils which had disturbed 
the beginning of Henry's reign. 

5. Entrance, mouth. "The earth which hath opened her 
mouth to receive thy brother's blood." Gen. 4: 11. 

13. Close, grapple. 

19. As far as, with destination as far as. 

20. Now, we are now. 

2.5. Fourteen hundred. Henry IV. ascended the throne at 
the close of the fourteenth century. 

29. Therefore, for that purpose; viz., to tell you that we 
mean to go. 

30. My gentle cousin Westmoreland. Ralph Nevill, created 
Earl of Westmoreland by Richard II. in 1397, had joined 
Bolingbroke's standard. Cousin (Lat. cum, together, and 
sohrinus from soror, sister) is the name of the child of a 
mother's sister. Its meaning was extended as here. Gentle 
means of gentle birth and breeding. 

32. Dear expedience, important expedition. 

33. Hot in question, a subject of eager discussion. 

34. Limits, distinct specifications. So in Macbeth, ii. 2, "It 
is my limited service," my specified, appointed, or prescribed 
duty. 

35. Athwart, perversely. 

37. Mortimer. The Sir Edmund Mortimer of this play was 
brother of Henry Hotspur's wife, but not really Earl of 
March as Shakespeare, following Holinshed, has supposed. 
He was uncle to Edmund Mortimer fifth Earl of March, who, 
at this time only ten years old, was the rightful heir to the 
crown, but was in the custody of the king at Windsor. 



130 NOTES. [ACT I. 

39. Glendower. Owen Glendower, the great Welsh chief- 
tain, had been an 'esquire of the body' to Richard II., and 
was strongly attached to that monarch. The Sir Edmund 
Mortimer of this play married Owen's daughter. 

42. Corpse for corpses. The same plural occurs in 2 K, 
Henry IV., i. 1. 

49. Uneven, untoward. 

61. Holy-rood day. Holy-rood or Holy-cross (A.-S. r6cZ- cross) 
day is September 14. The battle of Holmedon (now Ham- 
bleton) Northumberland, was in 1402. 

52. Young Harry Percy. So called because his father the 
Earl of Northumberland was also Henry Percy. Shakespeare, 
in this play, erroneously supposes that young Harry and 
Prince Hal were of the same age. Hotspur was at this time 
as old as the king himself, upwards of thirty-five. 

58. Them, the news ; here referred to by a plural pronoun, 
though we have news was in the preceding line. In modern 
usage the singular is preferred. 

63. Stain'd with the variation of each soil, spattered with 
the mud through which he had ridden in such haste. 

68. Balk'd, piled together in ridges. A balk, or baulk, is a 
ridge between two furrows. 

70. Mordake, or Murdoch, was eldest son, not of Douglas, 
but of Robert, Duke of Albany, regent of Scotland. The 
poet was misled by the omission of a comma in Holinshed. 

82. Minion, a favorite. 

93. To his own use, to have ransom for them or to discharge 
them at his own discretion. Percy had a right to act thus, 
by the acknowledged law of arms. He was bound to give up 
to the king the Earl of Fife, who was a prince of the royal 
blood, his father being brother to King Robert III. 

95. Worcester. Thomas Percy , Earl of Worcester, brother 
of the Earl of Northumberland. 

Scene 2. 

11. Time of day. To ask for the time of night would be 
more fitting, Hal thinks. 

15. That wandering knight, introduced by Falstaflf for the 
sake of the equivoque between knight and night. 

22. Prologue, an allusion to grace before meat. 

23. Roundly, in plain, blunt terms. 

26. Squires of the night's body. The principal attendant 
of a knight was called his squire. 

27. Beauty, a pun upon booty. 

39. Swearing lay by. Lay by was a highwayman's phrase, 

meaning surrender. Crying bring in, crying to the waiter 

to bring in wine. 



sc. II.] NOTES. 131 

46. Hybla, a hill in Sicily abounding in thyme, etc., and 

famous for honey. Old lad of the castle. This is allusive to 

the name Oldcastle, by which the Falstaff of this play was 
originally designated. It is said that Queen Elizabeth re- 
quested Shakespeare to alter the name, as some of the family 
of the Oldcastles were still remaining. 

48. Durance was a strong and very durable kind of cloth. 
It also denoted prison or imprisonment. The buff leather 
jerkin, or doublet,commonly worn by a sergeant or sheriff's 
officer was from its durability and its wearer's office called 
sometimes a robe of durance. 

62. Yea, and so used it. Falstaff here refers to credit in the 
sense of character. 

65. Resolution thus fobbed, shall boldness of spirit, or the 

spirit of daring, be thus foiled or disappointed. The rusty 

curb, the chains of imprisonment. 

67. Antic denotes what is ancient or old-fashioned. 

76. Jumps with, agrees with. 

80. No lean wardrobe. The clothes of criminals were the 
hangman's perquisite. 

81. Gib cat. Gib is a contraction of Gilbert, as Tib is of Ti- 
bert. A gib cat was an old male cat. The melancholy look 
of an old cat, or that of a bear lugged about the streets with 
a chain, is w^hat Falstaff refers to. 

85. A hare. Dr. Johnson says of the hare, " She is upon her 
form always solitary, and, according to the physic of the 
times, the flesh of it was supposed to generate melancholy." 

86. Moor-ditch, part of the great moat formerly surround- 
ing the city of London, and extending from Moorgate to 
Bishopsgate. Its dull filthy stream, with the marshes on 
one side of it, and the wretched houses on the other, gave 
rise to the term Moor-ditch melancholy. 

88. Most comparative, most apt to use comparisons. 
97. Wisdom cries out. Prov. 1 : 20-24. 
99. Iteration, mockery of one's words. 

110. Zounds, God's wounds. An oath the meaning of which 
the user never knew. Cf. 'tSblood, Marry, dear me. 

111. Baffle originally meant to punish a recreant knight by 
hanging him up by the heels and beating him. 

116. If Gadshill have set a match. To set a match was to lay 
a plan for a robbery. Gadshill , near Rochester, was much in- 
fested with highwaymen in Shakespeare's time. 

148. Stand for ten shillings = stand for a royal. The royal 
was a coin worth ten shillings. 

163. This speech is in ridicule of the usual style of the Pur- 
itan preacher's prayer before sermon. In it Falstaff calls 
robbing a recreation. 

168. All-hallown summer. All-hallows, or All-saints day, is 



132 NOTES, [ACT I. 

November 1. The Prince likens FalstafF to a latter spring 
and an All-hallown summer, because of the youthful pas- 
sions of his old age. 

185. Habits, garments. 

186. Appointment, equipment. There is here a quibbling 
reference to the words of Poins, " appoint them a place of 
meeting." 

190. The nonce. The n of then passing over to once, the nonce 
is then once = this once. Noted, known. 

200. Reproof, refutation, disproof. 

207. Unyok'd, unrestrained. 

214. To strangle him, to smother him. Cf. Macbeth, ii. 3, 
" 'T is day, and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp." 

222. Hopes, expectations. 

226. Foil, a piece of gold or silver leaf placed under a trans- 
parent gem to set it otf. 

227. To make offense, as to make my offending a piece of 
skillful conduct. "This speech," says Johnson, "is very 
artlully introduced to keep the prince from appearing vile 
in the opinion of the audience ; it prepares them for his future 
reformation; and, what is yet more valuable, exhibits a 
natural picture of a great mind offering excuses to itself, 
and palliating those follies which it can neither justify nor 
forsake.'' 

Scene 3. 

3. Found me to be thus unapt. 

6. Than my condition, than be what my temperament de- 
notes. 

17. Presence, demeanor. 

27. Misprision, mistake. 

38. A pouncet-box, a small box with perforated lid, con- 
taining an aromatic smelling-powder. 

40. Who, his nose. 

41. Took it in snuff. This is word-play. To take anything 
in snuff was to take offense at it, to be indignant at it. 

46. Holiday and lady terms, ceremonious terms. Much Ado, 
V. 2, " Festival terms ; " Merry Wives, iii. 2, " He speaks holi- 
day." 

51. Popinjay, parrot. 

53. He should, the king should or should not have the pris- 
oners. 

58. Parmaceti, a corruption of ^permace^i. 

62. Tall fellow, brave fellow. The epithets tall and stout were 
often applied to men and ships with the sense of sturdy, 
brave, gallant. 

63. But, unless, except. 



sc. ni,] NOTES. 133 

87, Indent with fears, make terms with fears, dangers caus- 
ing fears. 

101. In changing hardiment, in exchange of hard blows. 

104. Who, the Severn, or the tutelary power of the stream. 

106. Crisp, curled. 

118. Sirrah, used only towards an inferior. 

137. Canker'd, ill-natured. 

143. An eye of death, an eye of deadly fear. 

146. Next of blood. Edmund Mortimer, son of Roger, was 
next in order of succession to Richard II. 

148. And then it was. And it was then. 

158. His cousin king. There is here a quibbling allusion to 
cozen, that is, cozening or crafty. 

163. Of murderous subornation, of the guilt of procuring the 
murder of Richard. 

168. Line, position. So in iii. 2, "And in that very line, 
Harry, stand'st thou." 

176. This canker. The canker means here the dog-rose, as 
in Much Ado About Nothing, i. 3, " I had rather be a canker 
in a hedge than a rose in his grace ! " 

181. Your banish'd honors, your honors that have been ban- 
ished from the opinion of good men. 

183. Disdain'd, disdainful. The affix -ed used to denote 
having, or characterized by, oftener than now. 

193. Footing, support. 

^7. Corrival, rival, partner. 

209. A world of figures, innumerable imaginary forms of 
danger which keep his mind from the proper work before it. 

214. A Scot, a tax payment. Cf. scot-free. 

227. Defy, renounce, abjure. 

228. Bolingbroke, the king was so called from a castle of 
that name in Lincolnshire. 

229. Sword-and-buckler, not then accounted gentlemanly 
arms ; the rapier had superseded them. 

232. Could not have been said in earnest. 

243. The madcap duke. Edmund, Duke of York, son of Ed- 
ward III., a weak-minded man, and more given to pastime 
than to business. He died in 1402. Kept, lodged. 

259. The Douglas' son. Mordake, Earl of Fife, not really 
the Douglas^ son. 

268. His brother's death, etc. This is a mistake. The Arch- 
bishop of Y^ork was Richard Scroop, son of Lord Scroop of 
Bolton. The Scroop who was beheaded at Bristol was Lord 
William Scroop of Masham, Earl of Wiltshire. 

269. In estimation, according to conjecture. 

275. Thou still lett'st slip, an allusion to setting a leash of 
greyhounds free from the slips for the chase. Still, always. 

276. It cannot choose but be, it can not help being. 
283. Him, himself. 



134 NOTES. [act ii. 

ACT SECOND. 

Scene 1. 

2. Charles' wain, churl's wain, or rustic's wagon. The con- 
stellation of the Great Bear was popularly so called. 

6. Cut's saddle. Cut was a name for a curtal or docked 
horse. 

7. Flocks, locks of wool or hair. Wrung in the withers, 

galled in the shoulders. 

8. Out of all cess, to an inordinate excess. 

10. The next way, the nearest way. Othello, i. 3: 
" To mourn a mischief that is past and gone 
Is the next way to draw new mischief on." 
13. Since the price of oats rose. Knight says, " In 1596 the 
price of oats was exceedingly high. This play was undoubt- 
edly written about 1596. 

16. Stung like a tench. Knight says, " The particular charge 
against fleas of troubling fish is gravely set forth in Phile- 
mon Holland's Translation of Pliny." 

22. A gammon of bacon, a smoked ham. Razes, bales. 

23. Charing Cross. Charing was anciently a detached vil- 
lage. The cross erected there was to commemorate the last 
place where the body of Eleanor, Edward I.'s queen, rested 
on the way to Westminster. 

28. An. And in the the sense of if dropped its d in Shake- 
speare's time. Drink, to drink. 

29. Pate, vulgar for head. 
40. Quoth a, quoth he. 

48. Chamberlain, the one who has charge of the bed-rooms. 

64. Thou layest the plot how, thou apprisest the thief when 
an opportunity will occur. It was not unusual in old times 
for the chamberlains, hostlers, etc., of inns, to be in collu- 
sion with highwaymen. 

57. A franklin, one who possesses a freehold. 

63. Saint Nicholas' clerks. Saint Nicholas was a patron 
saint of clerks or scholars; and hence, as Nicholas, or old 
Nick, was a cant name for the devil, the robbers were 
equivocally called Saint Nicholas' clerks. 

68. What. For what ? Why? " What sit we then project- 
ing peace and war ? " Par. Lost, ii. 329. 

72. Trojans, a cant name for boon companions. 

76. Foot land-rakers, footpads. Sixpenny strikers, petty 

robbers who would attack even the poorest travelers. 

78. Malt-worms, tipplers. 

79. Great oneyers. Great ones are here humorously called 
great oney-ers. Hold in, be secret, stick by each other. 

85. Their boots, their gain, advantage, or booty. 



sc. m.] NOTES, 135 

91. The receipt of fern-seed. An old superstition is here re- 
ferred to— that fern-seed, if gathered on Midsummer Eve, 
with certain formalities, and carried in the pocket, would 
render the possessor invisible. The fructification of ferns 
being on the back of tne leaf, and the smallness of the seeds 
rendering it difficult to discern them, the vulgar came to 
ascribe magic virtue to a plant which seemed to be propa- 
gated by invisible seed. 

96. Purchase, earning. True, honest. 

Scene 2. 

2. Frets. To fret meant to grumble, as well as to wear 
away "like a moth fretteth a garment; " hence the quibble 
here. 

18. Squire, the measuring rule. 

18. Given me medicines, Othello i. 3, 

" She is abused, stolen from me, and corrupted 
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks." 

38. To colt me, to trick or gull me. 

41. Uncolted, unhorsed. 

46. Peach, impeach, give information. 

52. Our setter, the setter of our match. 

78. Happy man be his dole, " Lucky man be the lot dealt to 
him." A dole is that which is dealt out. 

91. Gorbellied, big-bellied. "Perhaps," as Staunton says, 
"corrupted for gorge-bellied.'' 

92. Chuffs, clownish fellows : burly, swollen men — swol- 
len with gluttony and guzzling. 

98. Argument, subject of conversation. 

SCE^'E 3. 

"Warkworlh Castle, still standing on a lofty rock in Wark- 
worth, Northumberland. 

12. Unsorted, ill-selected, unsuitable. 

34. Moving, trying to stir or incite. 

3.5. Let him tell the king. The letter was from George, Earl 
of Dunbar and March, who warned the king, and also at- 
tended him at Shrewsbury, where he rescued him from the 
fierce onslaught of the Douglas, and carried King Henry out 
of danger. 

48. Curst, sullen or ill-tempered. 

51. Terms of manage, technical terms of horsemanship. 

54. Frontiers, here forts along the boundaries, or frontiers. 

55. Basilisks, large guns, so called from their supposed re- 
semblance to the basilisk or cockatrice. Culverin, cannon. 

78. O Esperance. Esperance,i.e.,hope,W8iS the motto of the 
Percy family, and is here used by Percy in anticipation of 
his war-cry. 



136 NOTES. [act ii. 

81. As you are tossed with. An irritable temper was sup- 
posed to be connected with a swelling or agitation of the 
spleen. 

85. To line his enterprise. To line is to support or fortify. 

87. Paraquito, a small parrot. 

94. Mammets, puppets. 

96. Current, as current coins. Any coin, as a crowns when 
cracked was uncurrent. 

Scene 4. 

1. Fat room, vat room. So in Mark 12: 1, "The wine-fat." 

6. Sworn brother. An allusion to fratres jurati, brothers 
sworn to share faithfully the dangers and advantages of 
some common enterprise. 

7. Drawers, tapsters. 

12. A Corinthian. A cant name for a lascivious fellow: Cor- 
inth having been noted for its courtesans. 

17. Breathe in your watering, take breath while drinking. 

25. Under-skinker, an under-drawer or tapster. 

29. Bastard, a kind of sweet wine. 

37. Perfect, in the part or performance. 

47. By 'rlady, by our lady the Virgin. 

69. Anon, Francis ? Give you the thousand pounds anon, 
Francis? 

74. Nott-pated, round headed ; having close-cropped hair. 
Caddis, a kind of worsted tape. 

115. Brawn, Falstaff. Rivo, a common Bacchanalian 

shout. 

121. Nether-stocks, stockings. Breeches were called upper- 
stocks. 

124. Titan, the sun. 

128. Lime, added to give strength to the liquor. 

134. A shotten herring, a herring dried. 

137. I would I were a weaver, etc. Weavers and tailors 
were much addicted to the practice of singing at their work. 

142. A dagger of lath, the weapon of the buffoon who was 
called the Vice in the ancient comedies. 

172. At half-sword, at half-sword distance, in close fight. 

175. Hose, breeches. 

205. "Ward, fencing, guard, posture. 

229. Down fell their hose. This banter refers to the points 
or tagged laces that held the breeches. So in Twelfth 
JSTight, i. 5, when the Clown says, "I am resolved on two 
points," Maria replies, " That, if one break, the other will 
hold; or, if both break, your gaskins fall." 

230. I followed me close. This expletive use of the word me 
gives a quaint turn to the expression. 



sc. IV.] NOTES, 137 

236. In Kendal green. Kendal was in old times noted for 
the making and dyeing of cloths. The dress of Robin Hood 
and his merry foresters was Kendal green. 

242. Tallow-keech. A keech was the name for a rolled mass 
of beef fat. 

2-51. The strappado. By this instrument of punishment a 
person was drawn up to its height, and then suddenly with 
a jerk let fall half-waj^, so as to break or disjoint his bones. 

255. I, ay, yes. Ay or aye, spelt Jin old dramatists. 

256. Guilty of this sin, of allowing Falstaff to tell lies. 

259. Elf-skin. This alludes to the diminuntive clothing of 
an elf or fairy. 

262. Vile standing tuck. A tuck is a long thin sword, a ra- 
pier. Instead of standing we would now say ivalking. 

272. Out-faced, brow-beat. "With a word, in a word. 

287. The lion will not touch, etc. The opinion was preva- 
lent in old times that a lion would not harm either true 
chastity or true royalty. 

313. Give him as much, etc. That is, give him 35. M. The 
jest here refers to a nobleman as denoting a man worth a 
noble, or Qs. ScL, and a royal man as one worth a royal, orlO^. 

3.35. Of true men, of the honest men we attacked. 

341. Fire, an allusion to Bardolph's fiery complexion. 

343. These meteors. Referring still to his complexion. 

349. Halter, a quibbling reference to choler as suggesting 
collar, 

3.51. Bombast, cotton-wadding. Now an affected, padded, 
tumid style of speech. 

361. Amaimon, according to Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, 
a spirit who might be bound at certain hours. He was the 
demon king of the east, one of the four ruling spirits in- 
voked by witches. 

362. The cross of a Welsh hook. Falstaff here refers to the 
custom of swearing upon a figure otthe cross engraved on a 
sword, or on the hilt, which gave the weapon itself the shape 
of a cross. 

370. Pistol. An anachronism. The weapon not in use so 
early as Henry IV. 

382. Blue-caps, the name of a weed that grows amongst 
corn. 

399. State, throne, or royal chair. Macbeth III. 4, " Our 
hostess keeps her state." 

401. Is taken for, is regarded as no better than. 

409. Here is my leg, here I do obeisance with my leg. 

422. Tickle-brain, the name of some kind of liquor. 

434. Prove a micher, etc. Prove a sneaking truant, as boys 
do to pick blackberries. 

464. A rabbit-sucker, a sucking rabbit. Poulter, a dealer 

in poultry. 



138 NOTES, [act hi. 

479. Bolting-hutch, a bin, or hutch, for receiving bolted, or 
sifted, flour. 

480. Bombard, a barrel. 

481. Roasted Manningtree ox, supposed to refer to a custom 

of roasting an ox at Manningtree Fair, in Essex. That 

reverend vice, etc. The Vice, Iniquity, and Vanity, were 
characters in the ancient dramas called Moralities. 

483. Taste sack. Taste is here used for test or ^r2/. 

489. Take me with you, let me understand you. 

521. Never call a true, etc. The mad-cap prince was mad 
in reality, and needed no contrivance to make himself ap- 
pear a madman ; to say that the prince was assuming the 
role of a mad-cap would be to call a true piece of gold a coun- 
terfeit. 

526. Your major, a quibble between major ofllcer, or mayor^ 
and the major proposition of a syllogism. 

528. A cart, the cart in which criminals were conveyed to 
execution. 

531. Arras, the wall curtains. Apartments were often hung 
round with tapestry curtains. 

538. Hue and cry, clamor, outcry. 

559. Paul's, St. Paul's Cathedral. Very conspicuous. 

572. Ob., a contraction for obolus, a small Greek coin --- 
three and a half cents. 

580. Twelve-score, of frequent occurrence in relation to 
archery, cannon, etc., and denoted twelve-score yards. 

ACT THIRD. 

Scene 1. 

2. Our induction, introduction or commencement. 

15. Cressets, lights. Called cressets because the lights were 
in the form of a little cross. F. Croisette. 

31. Enlargement, disengagement, liberation. 

35. Of, from, on the part of. 

44. Clipp'd in, included within. 

78. Indentures tripartite, triple agreement. 

94. Moiety, share, proportion ; not then restricted to denote 
half. 

96. Comes me cranking in, comes winding or bending in- 
wards. 

98. Cantle, slice or corner. 

100. Smug. This word generslly mesint spruce in dress. 

107. Continent, that which contains. 

139. Break with, broach the subject to. 7h break with a per- 
son now means to quarrel with him. 

143. I cannot choose, I cannot help it. 



sc. I.] NOTES, 139 

144. The moldwarp, etc. Respecting the dividing of the 
land between Mortimer, Percy, and Glendower, Holinshed 
says, '' This was done (as some have said) through a foolish 
credit given to a vain prophecy, as though King Henry was 
the moldwarp, cursed of God's own mouth, and they three 
were the dragon, the lion, and the wolf, which should divide 
this realm between them." 

149. Skimble-skamble, rambling. 

157. "Windmill, used for grinding grain, and therefore 
noisy. 

158. Gates, delicacies. 

162. Concealments, secrets. 

180. Opinion, obstinacy. Cf. opinionated. 

185. Be your speed, achieve success. 

196. Swelling heavens, flooded eyes. 

197. But for shame, etc. Were it not for shaming my man- 
hood, I would weep too. 

201. Never be a truant, never play truant from school. 

205. Division, descant or variation in music. 

208. Rushes, with which the apartment was strewed. Even 
the presence chamber of royalty was carpeted with rushes 
in old times. 

218. Our book, the pages of our indenture. 

222. Yet straight, etc. This is Glendower's assertion of his 
magic power. 

2^. He 's so humorous. The devil is so swayed by humors. 

233. Lady, my brach, my female hound. 

245. Comfit, sweet-meats. 

248. Sarcenet surety. Asseveration like that of the city 
dames. Sarcenet was a stufl" made by the Saracens and 
worn by the rich. 

250. Swear me, Kate. An instance of the expletive pro- 
noun so often occurring in this play. 

252. Pepper, spiced. 

253. Velvet-guards, women that wear velvet bordered dress. 
256. The next way, etc. The nearest way to be lilie a tailor 

who is always singing while at work, or a teacher of piping 
birds. 

Scene 2. 

8. Passages, occurrences. 

13. Lewd, base. 

20. Doubtless, sure. 

24. Reproof, disproof. 

31. From, away from. 

43. To possession, to the possessor of the crown, Richard 

59. Such solemnity, the solemnity of a feast. 



140 NOTES. [ACT in. 

61. Bavin, dry brushwood, light, combustible. 

62. Carded his state, discarded his dignity, as cards are 
thrown out of the pack. 

63. Carping, taunting. 

67. Comparative, one who uses terms of comparison. 

69. Enfeoff 'd himself, gave himself up, devoted himself. 

73. By much too much, excessively too much. The expres- 
sion too much was often intensified by prefixing too. Two 
Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4, "O but I love his lady too too- 
much." 

77. Community, commonness, familiarity. 

81. But rather drows'd, but with such eyes as rather 
drowsed. 

83. Cloudy, gloomy. 

85. Line, position. 

98. Interest to the state, interest in the eyes of the state. 

101. Harness, armor. 

103. Being no more, etc. Being no older than thyself. This 
was not the fact. Shakespeare thought it poetically expedi- 
ent to make Hotspur an "infant warrior." 

115. Enlarged him, set him at large, liberated him. 

120. Capitulate, draw up heads or articles of conspiracy. 
Up, in arms. 

123. Dearest, most important. Hamlet^ i. 2, " Would I had 
met my dearest foe in heaven." 

136. Favor, features, face. 

138. Lights, happens. 

141. Unthought-of, unregarded. 

148. To engross up, to collect or store up. 

151. Worship, homage. 

lot. I shall, etc. That I shall perform it, 

156. Long-grown wounds, long-repeated grievances. 

157. Bands, bonds. The words hand and bond were for- 
merly interchangeable. 

158. A hundred thousand, etc. This is to me as good as the 
deaths of, etc. 

176. By which account, etc. And our business being reck- 
oned according to this account. 
180. Feeds him, feeds himself. 

Scene 3. 

5. Apple-John. This species of appls keeps well, though it 
soon has a withered appearance. 

6. In some liking, in tolerable looking or appearance. "Their 
young ones are in good liking." Job 39 : 4. 

15. Given, addicted, disposed. 

19. In good compass, within proper bounds. 



sc. I.] NOTES. 141 

26. The lantern in the poop, by which the admirars vShip 
was distinguished. 

43. A perpetual triumph, etc. Triumphs denoted shows, 
such as masks, revels, bonfires, rejoicings, etc. One of Ba- 
con's Essays is Of Masks and Triumphs. 

4l1. Drunk me. Another example of the expletive me. 

As good cheap, literally, at as good a market. Fr. « hon 
marche. The word cheaj) originally meant market. The ex- 
pression good cheap is quite familiar to the readers of our 
old literature. 

75. Dowlas, coarse linen cloth. Probably from Doullens in 
Picardy, France, where it was made. 

77. Bolters, sifting canvas, sieves. 

86. A younker, a greenhorn. 

93. A Jack, a common name for a low menial fellow. A 

sneak-cup, one who avoids deep potations. A sneaker was 
a small bowl of punch. 

96. Is the wind in that door, is that the direction for us ? 

122. A drawn fox. A fox when drawn from his kennel is 

very subtle in devising expedients for his safety. Maid 

Marian, a female character in the morris dances, often per- 
sonated by a man. The original Maid Marian was Robin 
Hood's forest queen. 

140. Ought. This form of the past tense of owe was often 
used for owed. 

161. Embossed, swollen, puffed up. 

182. Good angel, a quibbling allusion to the coin called an 
angel. 

189. With unwashed hands too, with out thinking that you 
do wrong. An allusion to the ceremony of washing the 
hands when one is compelled to act contrary to his own 
sense of right. 

ACT FOURTH. 
SCEXE 1. 

3. Such attribution, such an ascription of worth. 

6. Defy, abjure. 

7. Soothers, flatterers. 

32. That his friends, etc. That his friends could not so soon 
be raivsed by means of a deputy. 

44. His present want, his not being with us now. Our want 
of him. 

49. Therein should we read, etc. In the assemblage of all our 
powers at once we should see the utmost depth and the en- 
tire soul of the resources we have to depend on. 

51. List, circumscribing limit. 



142 NOTES. [act iv. 

56. A comfort of retirement, the comfort of having some- 
thing to fail bacl?: upon. 
59. The maidenhood, the young beginning. 
61. Hair, character. 

68. Question, misgiving. 

69. Offering, aggressive. 

85. This term of fear. Douglas here refers to the conclusion 
of Worcester's last speech. 

95. Nimble-footed. Stowe says, " He was passing swift in 
running, insomuch that he, with two other of his lords, 
without hounds, bows, or other engine, would take a wild 
buck or doe in a large park. 

98. Estridges, etc. Ostriches that strove with, or strove to 
outstrip, the wind. 

104. Beaver. The word here seems to denote, not the part 
of the helmet usually so called, but the helmet itself. 

105. Cuisses, defensive armor for the thighs. Fr. cuisse, the 
thigh. 

118. Reprisal, object of seizure. 
129. Battle, army. 

Scene 2. 

13. Soused gurnet, pickled fish. 

16. Press, the press of enlistment. 

22. Toasts-and-butter, a contemptuous term for efleminate, 
comfort-loving cockneys. 

25. Ancients, ensign-bearers. Fr. enseigne. 

27. The painted cloth, an allusion to the custom of hang- 
ing the walls of apartments with cloths on which were 
painted representations of Dives and Lazarus, the Prodigal 
Son, and other Scripture subjects. 

29. Unjust, dishonest. 

30. Revolted, runaway. 

33. Old faced ancient, an old patched standard. 
52. Quilt, refers to FalstafF's obesity. 

55. I cry you mercy. To cry any one mercy is to beg pardon. 
63. Thy theft. This implies a perversion of Falstaff's 
words to signify, '* I am as vigilant to steal cream as a cat is." 
68. To toss, on the enemy's pikes. 
76. Three fingers' thickness of fat. 

Scene 3. 

88. Defend, forbid. Fr. d^fendre. 
39. Limit, appointed duty. 
42. Griefs, complaints. 
61. Suggestions, prompting. 



sc. II.] NOTES, 143 

62. To sue his livery, to claim delivery to him of his law- 
ful inheritance. 

68. The more and less. A very common expression in old 
times for the greater and less, or, high and low. 

Stood in lanes, made lanes between them for him to 

Personal, there in person. 
Task'd, taxed. 

Indeed his king. The inaccuracy of this has been shown. 
Engag'd, detained as a gage, or pledge. 

Scene 4. 

1. Brief, letter. Now the points of a lawyer's argument. 
10. Bide the touch, bear the trial. 

17. A rated sinew, a valued sinew of battle. 
30. Corrivals, copartners. Hival occurs several times in 
Shakespeare in the sense of partner or associate. 

ACT FIFTH. 

Scene 1. 

2. Bosky, woody, 

12. Doff, for do off, as don for do on. 

13. Old limbs. The king could hardly be called old, he was 
but thirty-six. 

29. Chewet, a chattering bird. A kind of pie— minced 
meat. 

32. Remember you, remind you. 

60. That ungentle gull, the young cuckoo, which the hedge- 
sparrow mistakes for her own offspring, because hatched in 
her nest. 

72. Articulate, drawn up in the form of articles. 

76. Discontents, malcontents. 

80. Water-colors, thin pretexts. 

81. Starving for, hungering after, greedily longing for. 

88. This present enterprise, apart from the guilt of this 
present enterprise resting on his head. 
96. Yet this, yet let me say this before. 
119. On their answer, on receipt of their answer. 
122. Bestride, for the purpose of defending. 

Scene 2. 

29. Deliver up, etc. The Earl of Westmoreland had been 
engaged or impaivned, for the safe return of Worcester. 
45. Cannot choose but bring, can not help bringing. 



144 NOTES, [ACT V. 

50. Monmouth, the town in Wales where the prince was 
born. 

61. How show'd his tasking ? How looked his challenging? 
The manner in which he taxed me ? 

67. Envy, ill-will, enmity. 

68. Owe, own, possess. 

100. Pleaven to earth. This is analogous in import to the 
more common form of stating odds. "All the world to noth- 
ing," in King Richard III., i. 2, and "My dukedom to a beg- 
garly denier." 

Scene 3. 

7. The Lord of Stafford, Edmund, fifth Earl of StaflTord. 

29. Stand full fairly, have a fair chance of winning the day. 

30. Shot-free, without paying shot, or proportion of reck- 
oning. 

46. Turk Gregory. Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., is here 
called Tu7'k, in order to heap hated epithets upon him. 

60. A carbonado, a slice of flesh or fowl scored for broiling. 

61. Grinning honor. Alluding to the distortion of the fea- 
tures by death. 

Scene 4. 

5. Make up, go forward. 
32. Seek, that seek. 

48. Opinion, reputation. 

83. I could prophesy. Dying persons were supposed to be 
sometimes gifted with prophetic sagacity. In the Merchant 
of Venice, 1. 2, Nerissa says, " Holy men at their death have 
good inspirations." 

93. Stout, valiant. 

100. Ignomy, ignominy. The contraction is often met with 
in old authors. Physiognomy was often corrupted to viznomy. 

112. Powder me, salt me. 

115. Scot and lot, taxation according to one's means. 

131. Flcsh'd, made proof of. 

Scene a 

6. Upon our party, on our side. 



A Text-Book on Rhetoric: 

Supplementing' the development of the Science with Ex- 
haustive Practice in Composition. A Course of Prac- 
tical Lessons adapted for use in High Schools and 
Academies and in the Lower Classes of Colleges. By 
Brainerd Kellogg, A.M., Professor of the English 
Language and Literature in the Brooklyn Collegiate 
and Polytechnic Institute, and one of the authors of 
Reed & Kellogg's *' Graded Lessons in English," and 
"Higher Lessons in English*'' etc. 27G pages, 12mo^ 
attractively bound in cloth. 

In preparmsr this work upon Rhetoric, the author's aim has been to 
write a practical text-book for High Schools, Academies, and the lower 
classes of Colleges, based upon the science rather than an exhaustive 
treatise upon the science itself. 

This work has grown up out of the belief that the rhetoric which 
the pupil needs is not that which lodges finally in the memory, but that 
which has worked its way down into his tongue and fingers, enabling 
him to speak and write the better for having studied it. The author be- 
lieves that the aim of the study should be to put the pupil in possession 
of an art, and that this can be done not by forcing the science into him 
through eye and ear, but by drawing it out of him, in products, through 
tongue and pen. Hence, all explanations of principles are followed by 
exhaustive practice in Composition — to this everything is made trih'i- 
tary. 

When, therefore, under the head of Invention, the author is leading 
the pupil up through the construction of sentences and paragraphs, 
tlirough the analyses of subjects and the preparing of frameworks, to 
the finding of the thought for themes ; when, under the head of Style, 
he is familiarizing the pupil with its grand, cardinal qualities; and 
when, under the head of Productions, he divides di^^course into oral 
prose, written prose, and poetry, and these into their subdivisions, giv- 
ing the requisites and functions of each — he is aiming in it all to keep 
'sight of the fact that the pupil is to acquire an art, and that to attain 
this he must put into almost endless practice with his pen what he has 
learned from the study of- the theory. 



*' Kellogg's Rhetoric is evidently the fruit of scholarship and 
large experience. Nothing is sacrificed to show; the book is intended for 
use, and the abundance of examples, together wirh the explicit and 
well-ordered directions for practice upon them, will constitute one of 
its chief merits in the eyes of the thorough teacher. "—Prof. AlTjckt 
S. Cook, Joliiis Hopkins University, Baltimore, Mdo 



Published by CLARK & MAYNARD, New York. 



A Treatise on Physiology and Hygiene. 

For Educational Institutions and the General Reader. By Joseph C. 
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Surgeon to the Brooklyn City Hospital ; and late President of the 
Medical Society of the State of New York. Fully Illustrated with 
numerous elegant Engravings. 12mo. 300 pages. 

1. The Flan of the Work is to present the leading facts and prin- 
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The ab&oe work is the most popular work and most widely used text-book 
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French Course. 

By Professor Jean Gtjstave Keetei:.s. 

A Child's Illustrated First Book in FreiacHc 

168 pages. 12mo. 

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• A Text-Book on English Literature, 

Vith copious extracts from the leading authors, Englisia 
and American. With full Instructions as to ths 
Method in which these are to be studied. Adapted 
for use in Colleges, High Schools, Academies, etc. By 
Bkainerd Kellogg, A.M., Professor of the English 
Language and Literature in the Brooklyn Collegiate 
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Period I.— Before the Norman Conquest, 670-1066. Perioa 
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Each Period is preceded by a Lesson containing a brief re- 
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A Text-Book on Commercial Law. 

A Manual of the Fundamental Principles Governing Busi- 
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The work is used in nearly all of the leading Commercial Col- 
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RECOMMENDATIONS. 

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I find the work fully adapted for us^e in business schools as a text 
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Souder's Chicago Business College, Chicago, 111.^ Aug. 14, 1883. 
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Two-Book Series of Arithmetics. 

By James B. Thomson, LL.D., autlior of a 
Matliematical Course. 

1. FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC, Oral and 

Written. Fully and handsomely illustrated. For 
Primary Schools. 144 pp. 16mo, cloth. 

2. A COMPLETE GRADED ARITHMETIC, Oral 

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This entirely new series of Arithmetics by Dr. Thomson 
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First Lessons. — This volume is intended for Primary 
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required in large cities for promotion from grade to grade. 

The book is handsomely illustrated. Oral and slate exercises 
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Complete Graded.— This book unites in one volume 
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The pupil is led by a few simple, appropriate examples to 
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It has been a cardinal point to make the explanations simple, 
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Teachers and School Officers, who are dissatisfied with 
the Arithmetics they have in use, are invited to confer 
with the publishers. 

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